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Bill Pogue and the so-called 'mutiny' on Skylab 4

  1. timjohn Mar 29, 2021

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    TJH, vintage hab, pdxleaf and 4 others like this.
  2. dsio Ash @ ΩF Staff Member Mar 29, 2021

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    I was reading this on slashdot the other day, not really a mutiny per se but a lot of astronauts have gone off script a bit or taken the mickey at the expense of NASA, even if it ended up costing their careers. I was reading about the Apollo 15 postal cover scandal just the other day, makes you wonder why they needed a quid that badly.
     
  3. blufinz52 Hears dead people, not watch rotors. Mar 29, 2021

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    Al Worden, the Command Module Pilot on Apollo 15, does a good job explaining the postal cover scandal in his book Falling to Earth.
     
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  4. eugeneandresson 'I used a hammer, a chisel, and my fingers' Mar 29, 2021

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    When I was at Starmus festival a few years ago, Al Worden gave a great speech (he recited poems he wrote about being in space, some whilst he was in space), and when they opened the floor to questions that’s the first thing that he got asked (edit: the stamp thing). I really felt for the guy. It doesn’t matter what the truth of a situation, people only remember skewed headlines (or hearsay)...and that’s all that remains.

    The second thing he got asked was odd: ‘aren’t those space suites a bit gay’...referring to official pictures where the sleeveless suites came halfway up the forearm (they wasted 5 minutes with this guy to explain his question/issue) ::facepalm1::::facepalm1:: ::facepalm1:: I just about swallowed my tongue. His answer was ‘they were not styled in a gay fashion’. When I looked at the guy who asked it who appeared to be sitting next to his wife (the woman next to him was looking rather tomato-ish, must have been the wife), it all made sense ... ::facepalm1::::facepalm1::::facepalm1::
     
    Edited Mar 29, 2021
  5. pdxleaf ... Mar 29, 2021

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    That's a great bbc interview. Thanks for sharing.

    Easy to imagine it happening and the frustration with living with that. People are lazy thinkers at times, we form opinions at a glance and we turn to labels because they are easier than trying to learn for ourselves. Even the mundane gets misunderstood so it isn't a surprise that something like this was blown out of proportion. It's pleasantly surprising to read an account that shows both sides and sets the record straight.

    Regarding Worden, he is a very likable guy. He seemed so matter of fact in interviews. I would have loved to have heard him in person. Unlike some others who also experienced space, he expressed awe at the expanse of space and our place in it without reverting to the language of religion. I need to read his book.
     
  6. SpeedyPhill Founder Of Aussie Cricket Blog Mark Waugh Universe Apr 11, 2021

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    Have been away from the forum for a while... writing an article on how NASA distributed the Omega Speedmaster chronographs among the Gemini astronauts, as by December 1965 NASA had 30 astronauts on active flight status and only 21 Speedmasters...
    And another interesting cooperation on a wristwatch worn on the ankle of an astronaut underneath the spacesuit during launch.
    Seeing that space-flown watch today how it patinated into a " chocolate " dial I was amazed mine patinated in the exact same manner!
    ::popcorn::more soon via a printed magazine...
     
  7. timjohn Apr 11, 2021

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    Great to have more information on the original flown speedmasters. I’ve been trying to find out more on which X-33s were flown and on whose wrist, but there doesn’t seem to be anything inside or outside NASA.
     
  8. SpeedyPhill Founder Of Aussie Cricket Blog Mark Waugh Universe Apr 14, 2021

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    4 years ago ... April 2017
    NASA, NASM and Omega have chosen to remove the listing of spaceflown Speedmaster from the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal website because they were reliable informed that the table contained errors and that a replacement would be provided ( hq.nasa.gov/alsj/omega.html )
    During that time some aficionados have studied how NASA-issued Speedmaster chronograph were issued during the Gemini & Apollo program as NASA had more astronauts than available chronographs ( e.g. December 1965 = 21 chronographs for 30 active flight duty astronauts ).
    We also looked to the analog-digital Omega X-33 Speedmaster chronograph, a 72 decibel Alarm watch of which about 140 were flown on Soyuz spaceflight missions between August 1998 and 2020...
    MoonwatchUniverse has compiled an article on the subject... more info soon !
     
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  9. SpeedyPhill Founder Of Aussie Cricket Blog Mark Waugh Universe Apr 14, 2021

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    Another interesting Skylab space station subject... involving Snoopy ;)
    Each of the Skylab crews went in preflight quarantine, a period during which they started to eat carefully measured flight-type diet meals!
    An interesting fact concerns the little dosismeters at least one crew member wore onboard the Skylab space station. These little rectangular dosismeter boxes were attached to the velcrostrap of their Omega Speedmaster chronograph and these boxes were adorned with a logo of Charles Schulz' Peanuts dog "Snoopy" wearing a cape and goggles.
    These little 15 grams dosismeters had also to be worn during EVA - spacewalk on wrist or ankle and were brought back to Earth to study passive dosimetry. Expected radiation included Solar radiation, Galactic cosmic rays and emissions from onboard sources such as Zinc ampoules and astronaut Speedmaster chronographs !
    (Photos: NASA)
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    NASA_Skylab_Speedmaster_Snoopy.jpg NASA_Skylab_Speedmaster.jpg
     
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  10. cvalue13 Apr 14, 2021

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    ^^^ any ideas what those shoes are? They look like somehow modified Chuck Taylors, as if the toe boxes have been cut out.

    But then even stranger, the toe bow on the left shoe seems plastic with maybe a metal toe clip, while the right toe box a jumble of duct tape?

    Is it common to wear any form of shoe while inside? In my mind it’s always socks
     
  11. SpeedyPhill Founder Of Aussie Cricket Blog Mark Waugh Universe Apr 14, 2021

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    Skylab crew health was an important topic and NASA had meticulously planned the 30-days, 60-days and 90-days duration missions
    In fact, although the crew worked in microgravity and the space station had its fireman's pole in the middle of the orbital workshop, each of the Skylab astronaut got a pair of special sneaker with triangular shaped weights in the sole... precisely shaped to fit into the triangular floor grid pattern at the bottom of the space station so the astronauts could work upright !
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    Skylab_Sneaker_Shoe_Floorgrid.jpg
    Skylab_Sneaker_Floorgrid.jpg
     
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  12. SpeedyPhill Founder Of Aussie Cricket Blog Mark Waugh Universe Apr 14, 2021

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    As promised more info about Skylab...very soon...
    :coffee: