Dab solver - Astronaut Propulsion Unit

Most tools require the use of JavaScript. If you are using Firefox with the NoScript addon, please mark toolserver.org as trusted. See the Help page for details.

Feedback / Report a bug

0 points on this page / 19,509 points earned collectively this month / Disambiguate pages on your watchlist

[[File:Astronaut-EVA.jpg|thumb|right|250px|U.S. astronaut [[Bruce McCandless II|Bruce McCandless]] uses a manned maneuvering unit]]
An Astronaut Propulsion Unit<!-- Name chosen to avoid confusion with AMU --> (or Astronaut Maneuvering Unit) is used to move a suited astronaut in the vacuum of space. The first astronaut propulsion unit was the [[Hand-Held Maneuvering Unit]] (HHMU) used on [[Gemini 4]].

==Models==<!-- Chronological Order -->

=== Hand-Held Maneuvering Unit ===

{{main|Hand-Held Maneuvering Unit}}
This was the  "zip" gun used by [[Edward Higgins White|Edward White]] on the [[Gemini 4]] mission in 1965.  The hand-held gun held several pounds of nitrogen,^ref and allowed limited movement around the [[Gemini spacecraft]]. It was also used by astronaut [[Michael Collins (astronaut)|]] on the [[Gemini 10]] mission in 1966.
<center>
<gallery perrow="5">
Image:Astronaut_Edward_White_first_American_spacewalk_Gemini_4.jpg
</gallery>
</center>
42 lines hidden (3934 characters)
The 21KS^ref system is a completely new design for Orlan-DMA spacesuit not using a safety tether, but air jet engines. This system uses 6 degrees of freedom.
<center>
<gallery perrow="5">
Image:Russian space equipement.JPG|
File:SPK.jpg|SPK stored on Mir
</gallery>
</center>

=== SAFER ===

{{main|Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue}}
The Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue (SAFER) is a smaller backpack propulsion system intended as a safety device during space walks. It contains 1.4&nbsp;kg of gaseous [[nitrogen]], which provides much less delta-v capability than the MMU, roughly 10 feet per second (3 meters per second). However SAFER is less complex, less expensive and simpler to use than the MMU, and the limited delta-v is sufficient for the intended rescue-only task. Other Crew Self Rescue (CSR) devices of which prototypes have been developed include an inflatable pole, a telescoping pole, a bi-stem pole and a -type lasso device ([[astrorope]]) the drifting astronaut could throw to hook to the space station.
<center>
<gallery perrow="5">
Image:SAFER - Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue 2.jpg
File:SAFER Rescue System Tested - GPN-2000-001077.jpg|SAFER tested
</gallery>
</center>

Single scrollbar

[[File:Astronaut-EVA.jpg|thumb|right|250px|U.S. astronaut [[Bruce McCandless II|Bruce McCandless]] uses a manned maneuvering unit]]
An '''Astronaut Propulsion Unit''' (or Astronaut Maneuvering Unit) is used to move a suited astronaut in the vacuum of space. The first astronaut propulsion unit was the [[Hand-Held Maneuvering Unit]] (HHMU) used on [[Gemini 4]].

==Models==

===Hand-Held Maneuvering Unit===
{{main|Hand-Held Maneuvering Unit}}
This was the <<link:0>> "zip" gun used by [[Edward Higgins White|Edward White]] on the [[Gemini 4]] mission in 1965.  The hand-held gun held several pounds of nitrogen,<ref>{{cite book | last = Kranz | first = Gene | authorlink = Gene Kranz | title = Failure Is Not an Option | publisher = [[Berkley Books]] | year = 2000 | isbn = 0-425-17987-7 | page = 135 }}</ref> and allowed limited movement around the [[Gemini spacecraft]]. It was also used by astronaut [[Michael Collins (astronaut)|Michael Collins]] on the [[Gemini 10]] mission in 1966.
<center>
<gallery perrow="5">
Image:Astronaut_Edward_White_first_American_spacewalk_Gemini_4.jpg
</gallery>
</center>

===USAF Astronaut Maneuvering Unit===
{{main|Astronaut Maneuvering Unit}}
The United States Air Force (USAF) Astronaut Maneuvering Unit (AMU) was designed by the [[U.S. Air Force]], which was planning to use the Gemini spacecraft as part of the [[Manned Orbiting Laboratory]] (MOL).  The AMU was a backpack using [[hydrogen peroxide]] as the fuel.  The total delta-v capability of the AMU was about 250 feet per second (76.2 meters per second), roughly three times that of the MMU.  The astronaut would strap on the AMU like a backpack, and maneuver around using two hand controllers like that of the present-day MMU.  Because of the fuel, which came out as a hot gas, the astronaut's suit had to be modified with the addition of woven steel "pants" made of Chromel-R metal cloth.  The AMU was carried aboard the [[Gemini 9]] mission, but was not tested because the astronaut, [[Eugene Cernan]], had difficulty maneuvering from the Gemini cabin to the AMU storage place, at the back of the spacecraft, and overheated, causing his helmet faceplate to fog up. The AMU was also meant to be launched and flown on-board [[Gemini 12]], and to fly untethered from the Gemini spacecraft, but was scrubbed two months before the mission.<ref name=us>{{cite book |title= US Spacesuits |last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= Kenneth S. Thomas & Harold J. McMann |year= 2006 |publisher= Praxis Publishing Ltd. |location= Chichester, UK |isbn= 0-387-27919-9 | page = 32 | url= http://books.google.com/books?id=cdO2-4szcdgC&source=gbs_navlinks_s }}</ref>  [[NASA]] chief astronaut [[Deke Slayton]] later speculated in his autobiography that the AMU may have been developed for the MOL program because the Air Force "thought they might have the chance to inspect somebody else's satellites."<ref name="Deke">{{cite book|title=Deke!  U.S. Manned Space:  From Mercury to the Shuttle|last1=Slayton|first1=Donald K. "Deke"|authorlink1=Deke Slayton|last2=Cassutt|first2=Michael|authorlink2=Michael Cassutt|year=1994|edition=1st|publisher=[[Forge Books|Forge]] ([[St. Martin's Press]])|location=[[New York City|New York]]|isbn=0-312-85503-6|lccn=94-2463|oclc=29845663|page=174}}</ref>
<center>
<gallery perrow="5">
Image:USAF Astronaut Maneuvering Unit.jpg
</gallery>
</center>

===Automatically Stabilized Maneuvering Unit (ASMU)===
{{main|Automatically Stabilized Maneuvering Unit}}
In 1973, the ASMU was test-flown aboard [[Skylab]] during the [[Skylab 3]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://history.nasa.gov/SP-400/ch7.htm |title=SP-400 Skylab, Our First Space Station, Chapter 7 -- The Second Manned Period |publisher=George C. Marshall Space Flight Center |year=1977 |editor=Leland F. Belew}}</ref> and [[Skylab 4|4]] missions. Tested inside of the orbiting laboratory, it used nitrogen gas allowing both unsuited and suited testing of the unit.  The Skylab AMU was the closest to the Shuttle MMU, but was not used outside of the spacecraft because the EVAs were conducted with the astronauts attached to life support umbilicals, and to prevent damage to the delicate solar arrays on the [[Apollo Telescope Mount]].

<center>
<gallery perrow="5">
Image:S74-17305.jpg
</gallery>
</center>

===Foot Controlled Maneuvering Unit (FCMU)===
{{main|Foot Controlled Maneuvering Unit}}
Tested within Skylab. The purpose of it was to free the astronaut's hands. It was propelled by cold, high-pressured [[nitrogen]] gas located in a tank on the back.<ref name=Birds>{{Cite web |url=http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4219/Chapter13.html |title=From Engineering Science To Big Science, Chapter 13 -- More Favored than the Birds: The Manned Maneuvering Unit in Space |year=1998 |first=Anne |last=Millbrooke}}</ref> It was tested both suited and unsuited.

===Manned Maneuvering Unit===
{{main|Manned Maneuvering Unit}}
The Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) is a propulsion backpack which was used by NASA astronauts on three space shuttle missions in 1984. The MMU allowed the astronauts to perform untethered EVA spacewalks at a distance from the shuttle. The MMU was used in practice to retrieve a pair of faulty communications satellites, Westar VI and Palapa B2. Following the third mission the unit was retired from use.
<center>
<gallery perrow="5">
Image:STS-41-B EVA.jpg
</gallery>
</center>

===Soviet SPK===
{{main|Soviet SPK}}
The former [[Soviet Union]] also used a cosmonaut propulsion system on flights to the space station [[Mir]]. The SPK (or UMK, UPMK<ref name=Rs>{{cite book |title= Russian Spacesuits |last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= Isaac Abramov & Ingemar Skoog |year= 2003 |publisher= Praxis Publishing Ltd. |location= Chichester, UK |isbn= 1-85233-732-X |url= http://books.google.com/books?id=f7pZosHqkbEC&dq=S-901J+suit&source=gbs_navlinks_s }}</ref>) was larger than the Space Shuttle MMU, contained oxygen instead of nitrogen and was attached to a safety tether. Despite the tether, the SPK allowed the cosmonaut, wearing the self-contained [[Orlan space suits|Orlan spacesuit]], to "fly around" the orbiting complex, allowing access to areas nearly impossible to access otherwise. Though tested on Mir in 1990, the cosmonauts preferred using the [[Strela (crane)|''Strela'' crane]] (equivalent to the [[Mobile Servicing System]]). The SPK, which was left attached to the outside to the [[Kvant-2]] module, was destroyed when Mir re-entered the atmosphere after decommissioning.

The 21KS<ref name=Rs/> system is a completely new design for Orlan-DMA spacesuit not using a safety tether, but air jet engines. This system uses 6 degrees of freedom.
<center>
<gallery perrow="5">
Image:Russian space equipement.JPG|
File:SPK.jpg|SPK stored on Mir
</gallery>
</center>

===SAFER===
{{main|Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue}}
The Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue (SAFER) is a smaller backpack propulsion system intended as a safety device during space walks. It contains 1.4&nbsp;kg of gaseous [[nitrogen]], which provides much less delta-v capability than the MMU, roughly 10 feet per second (3 meters per second). However SAFER is less complex, less expensive and simpler to use than the MMU, and the limited delta-v is sufficient for the intended rescue-only task. Other Crew Self Rescue (CSR) devices of which prototypes have been developed include an inflatable pole, a telescoping pole, a bi-stem pole and a <<link:1>>-type lasso device ([[astrorope]]) the drifting astronaut could throw to hook to the space station.
<center>
<gallery perrow="5">
Image:SAFER - Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue 2.jpg
File:SAFER Rescue System Tested - GPN-2000-001077.jpg|SAFER tested
</gallery>
</center>

==References==
{{reflist|1}}

==External links==
* [http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4219/Chapter13.html "More Favored than the Birds": The Manned Maneuvering Unit in Space]
* [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19790008382_1979008382.pdf NASA Manned maneuvering unit: User's guide - 1978 (PDF document)]
* [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19900001658_1990001658.pdf Assessment of the NASA Manned Maneuvering Unit - 1988 (PDF document)]
* [http://www.astronautix.com/craft/spk.htm Astronautix SPK ]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=nv4w6IuEbNMC&pg=PA34&lpg=PA34&dq=Astronaut+Maneuvering+Unit&source=bl&ots=4bJhApyqWv&sig=J9a5hPLJVo7kCWL75A8PG3z6tME&hl=en&ei=SYfzS-DYN4GglAf-rcSeDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CC0Q6AEwBzgK#v=onepage&q=Astronaut%20Maneuvering%20Unit&f=false Suited for spacewalking - NASA]

[[Category:Human spaceflight]]

Edit summary:
This is a minor edit Watch this page

Cancel

Dab solver - Astronaut Propulsion Unit

Tools

Interaction