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In the 1960's (I think?) NASA did studies on various emergency situations in preparation for the post-Apollo space stuff that never happened. I remember a zipp
by __d 2y ago
In the 1960's (I think?) NASA did studies on various emergency situations in preparation for the post-Apollo space stuff that never happened. I remember a zippered inflatable sphere that could be used to EVA a person between vehicles, and I think there was an inflatable cone-shaped reentry device that got out of orbit, and down to a reasonable altitude, before being discarded and the person used a parachute for landing.
A quick search turns up:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_Rescue_Enclosure https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_Rescue_Enclosure
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOOSE https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOOSE
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracone
- extraduder_ire 2y agoBack in 2022, they tested an inflatable heat shield that's somewhat like what you described. IIRC, it performed great. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-Earth_Orbit_Flight_Test_of_an_Inflatable_Decelerator https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-Earth_Orbit_Flight_Test_of...