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Apollo used pure oxygen, and skylab was 3/4 oxygen, 1/4 nitrogen. For context, this was done to simplify systems, and lower the pressure in both the spacesuits
by nickff 6y ago
Apollo used pure oxygen, and skylab was 3/4 oxygen, 1/4 nitrogen. For context, this was done to simplify systems, and lower the pressure in both the spacesuits and spacecraft; low-pressure in the spacesuit is important because it makes the suit more flexible.
https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/why-apollo-had-a-flammable-pure-oxygen-environment https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/why-apollo-had...
- laurent92 6y agoDidn’t the full-oxygen Apollo 1 burn in a horrific accident while still on launchpad, and is the reason why doors can now open from the outside? One scratch and even iron burns in a 100% oxygen atmosphere. Honor to those 3 astronauts. https://youtu.be/M0YB5r4vzVo https://youtu.be/M0YB5r4vzVo It would be a comic turn of fate if we succeeded to turn the Moon into an oxygen-rich atmosphere, only to discover that we can’t land on it because every single rocket we sent on it burns upon landing.
- garmaine 6y agoThe problem was that it was full pressure, 1 atmosphere of pure oxygen. That was stupid and was only really done on that test, because it was a sea level mock-up. The actual spacecraft operated at just the normal oxygen partial pressure, but with no other trace gasses aside from exhaled CO2.
- Plasmoid 6y agoApollo 1 was particularly bad because they were attempting to simulate relative space pressure on the ground. So they pushed the internal pressure up to 20 psi of pure O2 (sea level is ~15 psi). That is something like ~7 the Oxygen density of normal air. Things burn hot and fast in that environment.