Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Extravehicular Mobility Units
Message-ID: <1989Dec15.050003.6460@utzoo.uucp>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
References: <37867@ames.arc.nasa.gov> <219@nwnexus.WA.COM>
Date: Fri, 15 Dec 89 05:00:03 GMT

In article <219@nwnexus.WA.COM> seans@microsoft.UUCP (Sean Shapira) writes:
>Would someone familiar with the STS-32 mission plan describe the 
>contingency which would require use of these "extravehicular mobility 
>units"?  

The classic EVA-requiring emergency is being unable to get the cargo bay
doors closed properly.  There is a hand-crank procedure for emergencies.

Various other possibilities arise when deploying one satellite and picking
up another.  As seen on the Solar Max repair and the Palapa/Westar retrieval,
the nifty gadgets don't always work.  As seen on the P/W retrieval, the
Syncom repair, and the Skylab solar-array deployment, human muscle and
simple tools are much more robust in the face of trouble.  (As demonstrated
by Nelson, brute-force improvisation doesn't always work.  As demonstrated
by Volkov, sometimes it *does*.)
-- 
1755 EST, Dec 14, 1972:  human |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
exploration of space terminates| uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu