Orbiter Ejection Seats

[ascan1984]

During STS 1 - 4 they had Orbiter Ejection Seats. I was wondering how it would ahave worked as in how would they have escaped?

 

[qso1]

STS 1-4 had seats because they were considered the test flights of the shuttle system and involved only two person crews. There were panels installed above the CDR/PLT seats that would blow off to allow the seats to eject the crew throught the orbiter cockpit roof as it were. If memory serves me, these seats and panels were installed on Columbia only.<br /><br />They were removed by the time Columbia was returned to service for STS-5. Having more than 2 flight crew meant people in the middeck which in turn meant ejection seats not possible since the mid deck sits below the cockpit or flightdeck. Therefore, the CDR/PLT ejection seats were removed rather than have only two people escape in a potential accident. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[ascan1984]

Thankyou for the info. It is a great help. I am reading at the moment the book Riding Rockets by Mike Mullane. It has brought up allot of questions that i had forgoten the answers long ago. Another question that it made me think about regards ascan classes. Which is the most successfull astronaut candidate class in terms of average flights per member.

 

[ambrous]

I would have to guess class 2. The 9 men made 25 flights or 2.78 each. 17 as Commanders. That is not bad when you remember that there were only 25 flights up through ASTP (65 seats)<br /><br />This group included 1st spacewalk, 1st moonwalk (3 total), 8 lunar missions.

 

[ascan1984]

I think Nasa just has too many astronauts.

 

[mattblack]

What, you mean like Mozart has too many notes in his music? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p>One Percent of Federal Funding For Space: America <strong><em><u>CAN</u></em></strong> Afford it!!  LEO is a <strong><em>Prison</em></strong> -- It's time for a <em><strong>JAILBREAK</strong></em>!!</p> </div>

 

[qso1]

Jogged my memory about STS-5 which now I recall did have the seats in a safed mode. I seemed to recall about a years between the last seat flight and the first without the seats and when I saw STS-5 flying only a few months after 4, it made me wonder and now your posting confirms it.<br /><br />Thanks Shuttle_guy <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[dragon04]

Perhaps a naieve question, but would an ejection at Mach 5 or above even be survivable?<br /><br />I'm just thinking that the rapid change in vector at those velocities would create sufficient G forces to, well, you know.... <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>"2012.. Year of the Dragon!! Get on the Dragon Wagon!".</em> </div>

 

[rocketwatcher2001]

Shuttle_Guy-<br />I know for a fact that there are folks designing a "pumpkin suit" with M-5, which just might survive a mach 20 rentry ejection. <br /><br />But that's a whole lot of heat. <br /><br />*EDIT*<br />Not mach 20, but it should still be a lot better than anything else, and they are really not in the suit design stage yet either. Sorry about that. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[rocketwatcher2001]

Yep-<br /><br />I hope M-5 is tough enough to keep the inside less than 100 F while the outside is 3000 F.<br /><br />M-5 is as big a step over Kevlar as Kevlar was over Nylon. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[gunsandrockets]

from http://www.ejectionsite.com/ information on the X-15 ejection seat<br /><br />"North American Aviation was chosen to design and build the X-15 research aircraft. The X-15 was designed to fly at speeds exceeding Mach 5, and altitudes of up to 800,000 feet (although it maxed out in testing at 347,000 feet). Design discussions were held on the merits of a capsule versus a seat design, and with Scott Crossfield's input, the seat design was chosen. The picture on this page shows the result. The NAA X-15 seat was possibly the most elaborate ejection seat ever designed. Its features included a pair of wings and a pair of telescoping booms to stabilize the seat at speeds of Mach 4.0 and an altitude of 120,000 feet. The seat pan included two large capacity Oxygen cylinders. The foot rests included a set of ankle restraints (shown locked) that were activated by the pilot bringing his feet back to the foot rests. His ankles would strike a set of bars which would lock in the shackles, and by linkage raise a set of deflectors in front of the toes. Raising the ejection handles raised a set of thigh restraints as well as rotating inward the elbow restraints. This action also pulls a pin out of the emergency oxygen supply system activating it. This configuration protected the pilot from the wind blast (the wind forces experienced on ejecting at high Mach are many times the wind force in a large hurricane! {a catagory 5 Hurricane is one with wind speeds in excess of 135 kts., at Mach 2.5 and 56,000 feet the equivilent is 480+ KEAS}). "<br /><br />"The canopy was automatically jettisoned as the ejection handles reached within 15 degrees of full travel. The seat was inhibited from firing with the canopy in place, but if the handles were raised and locked into the firing position, the seat would remain armed and extremely dangerous as it would immediately fire if the canopy were to jettison. Hence, the ground rescue personel wer

 

[rocketwatcher2001]

News-<br />Not like a MOOSE, but like a suit. The thinking is that an Astronaut has the time to say "Oh stuff" and that's it. The M-5 suit may protect them, that's the goal. It's a far reaching goal, but this fiber might just be able to do it.<br /><br />*EDIT*<br />Guys, do a search on M-5, This stuff is really cool.<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>