Astronaut emergency pill/tablet?

[ouijaouija]

I read a few years ago that an astronaut in space has a pill or something, to take in emergencies, if they are going to die from a freak accident ot something. Is there any truth to this, where does one read about this?

 

[drwayne]

I know U2 pilots had a glass pill, and later a needle,but that is the only one I know of.<br /><br />Wayne<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>"1) Give no quarter; 2) Take no prisoners; 3) Sink everything."  Admiral Jackie Fisher</p> </div>

 

[PistolPete]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>They problems are fast, painless and 100% effective, as aircrews unfortunately prove quite often. <p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br />As Payne Stewart and crew found out the hard way.<br /><br />You don't need to be at 100,000 ft to have a fatal rapid decompression.<br /><br />I believe it was on the IMAX movie about the ISS (the one that was narrarated by Tom Cruise) where they went over a hypothetical situation about an astronaut on an EVA who's tether became unhooked, tried to use his SAFER pack, overshot and ran out of fuel, and then just drifted off into space to die several hour later. To me this seemed highly implausible. I doubt that NASA would just let an astronaut slowly suffocate to death without trying to do anything. If Apollo 13 proved anything it's that in space, as so long as you are alive and kicking, there is always something that can be done. The point is that I highly doubt that a "suicide pill" would ever be necessary in space because most people would be fighting to literally their last breath to live. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><em>So, again we are defeated. This victory belongs to the farmers, not us.</em></p><p><strong>-Kambei Shimada from the movie Seven Samurai</strong></p> </div>

 

[docm]

Not to mention how hard it would be to take a pill with an EVA helmet on <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[earth_bound_misfit]

LOL, good point Pete! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p> </p><p>----------------------------------------------------------------- </p><p>Wanna see this site looking like the old SDC uplink?</p><p>Go here to see how: <strong>SDC Eye saver </strong>  </p> </div>

 

[ouijaouija]

i've done a search on google, everywhere says it is a myth... but i think maybe not! what other painless way is there to 'go' in space other than take a pill? If I was faced with a crisis where I was certain to die, I'd take the pill, to make it painless. <br /><br />I think maybe they are given an option to have one

 

[jimfromnsf]

You thinking it doesn't make it real. They DON'T had such a pill

 

[craig42]

Does anyone know how long and how painful opening the helmet to vacuum would be?

 

[erioladastra]

"but i think maybe not! "<br /><br />Absolute myth.<br /><br />Regarding the IMAX movie - yes, if the crew's tether failed and SAFER failed, there is absolutely nothing NASA could do. That is why we are so careful with tethers and SAFER. You can zoom ISS after them, the arm won't help. You only have hours at best. It is a risk of the job.

 

[rocketwatcher2001]

<font color="yellow">Regarding the IMAX movie - yes, if the crew's tether failed and SAFER failed, there is absolutely nothing NASA could do. That is why we are so careful with tethers and SAFER. You can zoom ISS after them, the arm won't help. You only have hours at best. It is a risk of the job.</font><br /><br />How long does it take to power up the Soyuz? If my buddy was in trouble, I'd do anything and everything to get them back. I doubt there would be a lot of deltaV from a mishap to prevent a Soyuz from catching up with them. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[jimfromnsf]

"How long does it take to power up the Soyuz? If my buddy was in trouble, I'd do anything and everything to get them back. I doubt there would be a lot of deltaV from a mishap to prevent a Soyuz from catching up with them."<br /><br />and then what? Ram into him? Hit him with a thruster? The Soyuz does have the windows nor the tools to rendezvous with a uncooperative object. Also, the EVA crewmember can't inside and the Soyuz have to return to earth due to propellant useage

 

[rocketwatcher2001]

<font color="yellow">and then what? Ram into him? Hit him with a thruster? The Soyuz does have the windows nor the tools to rendezvous with a uncooperative object. Also, the EVA crewmember can't inside and the Soyuz have to return to earth due to propellant useage</font><br /><br />The Soyuz does have docking radar that could track a man in a spacesuit. Plus the amount of Delta V required wouldn't use much propellent at all, they move the Soyuz around the ISS all the time to free up different docking ports as needed. The EVA astronaut could talk the Soyuz pilot through a lot of the positioning so that the EVA astronaut simply graps hold of any convienent hand hold and slowly rides back to the ISS. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[3488]

I would have thought that if an Astronaut drifted free from the ISS during EVA,<br />would the astronaut stay more or less in the same orbit??<br /><br />If so, a rescue would not be difficult.<br /><br />I think the real problem would only arise if, the astronaut has a propelled <br />backback & that malfuctions, than off course the astronauts could end up in<br />a very different orbit.<br /><br />Also this raises a good point. What if a crew are stranded on the Moon or Mars <br />due to ascent vehicle failure??? AFAIK, this was a major concern with the Apollo landing <br />crews. Fortunately the reliability of the LM was such that it was a non issue.<br /><br />BTW welcome to SDC ouijaouija.<br /><br />(yesyesyesyes in French German French German).<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[rocketwatcher2001]

<font color="yellow">Also this raises a good point. What if a crew are stranded on the Moon or Mars <br />due to ascent vehicle failure?</font><br /><br />Pilots will do what pilots have been doing since the begining of aviation, work like Hell to get their bird back in the air(space) before they freeze to death. Sometimes they pull the proverbial rabbit out of their......uhm, hat and fly the thing back home, but sometimes they freeze to death. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[erioladastra]

<br />Depends - if he was trying the SAFER and it didn't work (malfunction, poor piloting) not sure where he would be. The Soyuz is not a millenium falcon where you can just zoom around in any path to get to a crew member. We don't even train that option, it is just not realistic. You are more likely going to endanger the other 2 people.<br />

 

[rocketwatcher2001]

The SAFER doesn't have the juice, even if it fully malfunctioned to give the EVA astronaut too much deltaV. I remember when the Space Shuttle crews were testing the MMU back in 1984? They said that even if it malfunctioned in the worst possible way, the Orbiter had more than enough deltaV capablity to pick them up. I know the Soyuz doesn't have as much deltaV as the Orbiter, but I'd be really surprised if it didn't have enough to match the EVA astronaut and then match the ISS again. <br /><br />What is the deltaV that the SAFER would give the average weight astronaut in their gear? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[drwayne]

Someone asked, I beleive, Aldrin a question about Ascent engine failure, and what would he be doing in those last minutes - he indicated something along the lines of "Working like hell to fix the thing"<br /><br />Wayne <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>"1) Give no quarter; 2) Take no prisoners; 3) Sink everything."  Admiral Jackie Fisher</p> </div>

 

[j05h]

SAFER has 3m/s delta-v. Soyuz has a total 390m/s. In the unlikely series of failures outlined, Soyuz could easily catch the errant spacewalker. The Soyuz hab module doubles as an airlock - seal between it and descent capsule and use the side access hatch to enter/exit. In current ISS config, you'd need both remaining crew to enter the Soyuz, maybe the EVA partner through the side hatch?<br /><br />I'm not sure if Soyuz has any hand-holds for EVA, but it shouldn't matter in that scenario. <br /><br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simplified_Aid_for_EVA_Rescue<br />http://www.astronautix.com/craft/soyuztma.htm<br /><br /><br />Josh <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div align="center"><em>We need a first generation of pioneers.</em><br /></div> </div>

 

[rocketwatcher2001]

I would think that in the heat of the moment, the EVA astronaut would hang onto anything, whether it's a solar panel, or whatever. The Soyuz would get really close to the ISS at some point where the EVA can then grab hold of the ISS and get themselves hooked back on to the ISS, and would enter the ISS through it's airlock while the Soyuz re-docks with the ISS and the Soyuz pilot enters the ISS through the normal docking port.<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[rocketwatcher2001]

But if the ISS's computer wanted to kill them, maybe they would be in real trouble.....<br /><br />"Open the Pod Bay Doors HAL"<br /><br />"I'm affraid I can't do that Dave" <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[jimfromnsf]

"I would think that in the heat of the moment, the EVA astronaut would hang onto anything, whether it's a solar panel, or whatever. The Soyuz would get really close to the ISS at some point where the EVA can then grab hold of the ISS and get themselves hooked back on to the ISS,"<br /><br />not really viable. the Soyuz couldn't maneuver with him out there and he would break off anything he grabbed when thrusters fire

 

[rocketwatcher2001]

It could maneuver, but the pilot would have to practice a bit before they did anything fancy, because, as you know, the CG would be off a little, but nothing any decent pilot wouldn't be able to figure out. If Jim Lovell could fly the LM/CM/SM stack using only the the LM, I'm sure it could work. As long as the maneuvers are gentle, the EVA astronaut wouldn't break anything off. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[nyarlathotep]

Not particularly painful. There is a brief cold sensation because of the rapid evaporation of water in your skin, then after 10 or so seconds you lose consciousness. <br /><br />During the next 90 seconds vapour pressure will bloat your body to about twice the volume causing embolisms, but before these can kill you you'll die of asphyxiation.

 

[jimfromnsf]

"f Jim Lovell could fly the LM/CM/SM stack using only the the LM, I'm sure it could work"<br /><br />An expert opinion based on watching Apollo 13?<br />Gentle manuvers? A 300 lb mass on the end of a solar array or any appendage would break it<br /><br />Practice? There is no time for practice. Also the astronaut would be subjected to the thrusters.<br /><br />This is a nonviable option

 

[rocketwatcher2001]

<font color="yellow">"f Jim Lovell could fly the LM/CM/SM stack using only the the LM, I'm sure it could work" <br /><br />An expert opinion based on watching Apollo 13?</font><br /><br />I met Jim Lovell 3 years ago. *4 years ago.<br /><br /><font color="yellow"><br />Gentle manuvers? A 300 lb mass on the end of a solar array or any appendage would break it </font><br /><br />At the end, probably, but not near the base, the moment would be much less. Any astronaut would know that.<br /><br /><font color="yellow">This is a nonviable option</font><br /><br />Says the engineer who's never flown anything but a desk. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>