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Walking to Olympus

An EVA Chronology

David S. F. Portree and Robert C. Trevino

NASA History Office Office of Policy and Plans NASA Headquarters Washington DC 20546

Monographs in Aerospace History Series #7 October 1997

Foreword

One of the most significant activities conducted in space takes place when human beings depart their spacecraft and travel about and perform work in a spacesuit. Extravehicular activities (EVA) require some of the most complex technical skills, sophisticated technologies, and human capabilities of all missions undertaken in space. The first of these EVAs took place on 18 March 1965 during the Soviet Union's Voskhod 2 orbital mission when cosmonaut Alexei Leonov first departed the spacecraft in Earth orbit to test the concept. In June of 1965, during the flight of Gemini 4, Edward White II performed the first EVA by an American. Since that time hundreds of hours have been amassed by humans conducting EVAs in both Earth orbit and on the lunar surface. Between that time and April 1997, when Jerry Linenger conducted an EVA with Vladimir Tsibliyev as part of International Space Station Phase I, 154 EVAs have been undertaken.

These total EVAs have not only accomplished significant work in space, work impossible through any other means, but also yielded enormous knowledge, skills, and experience among the astronaut and cosmonaut corps about how to perform meaningful work beyond the confines of Earth's atmosphere. Walking to Olympus: An EVA Chronology, by David S.F. Portree and Robert C. Trevino, is a comprehensive chronicle of all of the EVAs conducted since the dawn of the space age. Because history is so important in helping to chart the direction for the future, this monograph's publication is especially significant because the building of the International Space Station near the end of this century will require many more hours of EVA than has been previously undertaken altogether. One of our goals for publishing this monograph at this time is to help inform officials and the general public of what EVAs have been done before, what they accomplished, and what hurdles had to be surmounted to accomplish them.

This is the seventh publication in a new series of special studies prepared by the NASA History Office. The Monographs in Aerospace History series is designed to provide a wide variety of investigations relative to the history of aeronautics and space. These publications are intended to be tightly focused in terms of subject, relatively short in length, and reproduced in an inexpensive format to allow timely and broad dissemination to those interested in aerospace history. Suggestions for additional publications in the Monographs in Aerospace History series are welcome.

ROGER D. LAUNIUS Chief Historian National Aeronautics and Space Administration September 11, 1997

Contents

Acronyms and Abbreviations

Introduction

Spacewalkers enjoy a view of Earth once reserved for Apollo, Zeus, and other denizens of Mt. Olympus. During humanity's first extravehicular activity (EVA), Alexei Leonov floated above Gibraltar, the rock ancient seafarers saw as the gateway to the great unknown Atlantic. The symbolism was clear—Leonov stepped past a new Gibraltar when he stepped into space.

More than 32 years and 154 EVAs later, Jerry Linenger conducted an EVA with Vladimir Tsibliyev as part of International Space Station Phase I. They floated together above Gibraltar. Today the symbolism has new meaning—humanity is starting to think of stepping out of Earth orbit, space travel's new Gibraltar, and perhaps obtaining a new olympian view—a close-up look at Olympus Mons on Mars.

Walking to Olympus: An EVA Chronology chronicles the 154 EVAs conducted from March 1965 to April 1997. It is intended to make clear the crucial role played by EVA in the history of spaceflight, as well as to chronicle the large body of EVA "lessons learned."

Russia and the U.S. define EVA differently. Russian cosmonauts are said to perform EVA any time they are in vacuum in a space suit. A U.S. astronaut must have at least his head outside his spacecraft before he is said to perform an EVA. The difference is based in differing spacecraft design philosophies. Russian and Soviet spacecraft have always had a specialized airlock through which the EVA cosmonaut egressed, leaving the main habitable volume of the spacecraft pressurized. The U.S. Gemini and Apollo vehicles, on the other hand, depressurized their entire habitable volume for egress.

In this document, we apply the Russian definition to Russian EVAs, and the U.S. definition to U.S. EVAs. Thus, for example, Gemini 4 Command Pilot James McDivitt does not share the honor of being first American spacewalker with Ed White, even though he was suited and in vacuum when White stepped out into space.

Non-EVA spaceflights are listed in the chronology to provide context and to display the large number of flights in which EVA played a role. This approach also makes apparent significant EVA gaps—for example, the U.S. gap between 1985 and 1991 following the Challenger accident.

This NASA History Monograph is an edited extract from an extensive EVA Chronology and Reference Book being produced by the EVA Project Office, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas. The larger work will be published as part of the NASA Formal Series in 1998.

The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance rendered by Max Ary, Ashot Bakunts, Gert-Jan Bartelds, Frank Cepollina, Andrew Chaikin, Phillip Clark, Richard Fullerton, Steven Glenn, Linda Godwin, Jennifer Green, Greg Harris, Clifford Hess, Jeffrey Hoffman, David Homan, Steven Hopkins, Nicholas Johnson, Eric Jones, Neville Kidger, Joseph Kosmo, Alexei Lebedev, Mark Lee, James LeBlanc, Dmitri Leshchenskii, Jerry Linenger, Igor Lissov, James McBarron, Clay McCullough, Joseph McMann, Story Musgrave, Dennis Newkirk, James Oberg, Joel Powell, Lee Saegesser, Andy Salmon, Glen Swanson, Joseph Tatarewicz, Kathy Thornton, Chris Vandenberg, Charles Vick, Bert Vis, David Woods, Mike Wright, John Young, and Keith Zimmerman. Special thanks to Laurie Buchanan, John Charles, Janet Kovacevich, Joseph Loftus, Sue McDonald, Martha Munies, Colleen Rapp, and Jerry Ross. Any errors remain the responsibility of the authors.

The Chronology

1965

March 18

Voskhod 2 launch

March 18

1965 EVA 1

World EVA 1

Russian EVA 1

Duration: 0:24 Spacecraft/mission: Voskhod 2 Crew: Pavel Belyayev, Alexei Leonov Spacewalker: Alexei Leonov Purpose: Perform EVA ahead of U.S.; demonstrate feasibility of EVA

The U.S. response to the launch of Yuri Gagarin, the first human being to reach space (Vostok 1, April 1961) was President John Kennedy's call for a manned lunar landing by the end of 1969. The Gemini program was conceived to let NASA perfect skills needed for Apollo lunar flights, including EVA. Soviet leaders felt compelled to respond. Soyuz was under development, but would not be ready before Gemini, so Soviet engineers modified Vostok capsules to meet or beat some of Gemini's goals. The modified Vostok was called Voskhod. Immediately after reaching orbit in Voskhod 2, Leonov and Belyayev attached the EVA backpack to Leonov's Berkut ("Golden Eagle") suit. Berkut was a modified Vostok Sokol-1 intravehicular (IV) suit. A white metal backpack provided 45 min of oxygen for breathing and cooling. Oxygen vented through a relief valve into space, carrying away heat, moisture, and exhaled carbon dioxide. Suit pressure could be set at either 40.6 kpascal (5.88 psi) or 27.4 kpascal (3.97 psi). Belyayev then deployed and pressurized the Volga inflatable airlock. The airlock was necessary because Vostok/Voskhod avionics were cooled by cabin air and would overheat if the capsule was depressurized for EVA. Volga was designed, built, and tested in just 9 months beginning in mid-1964. At launch Volga fitted over Voskhod 2's hatch, extending 74 cm (29.6 in) beyond the spacecraft hull. The airlock comprised a metal ring 1.2-m (3.96-ft) wide fitted over Voskhod 2's inward-opening hatch; a double-walled fabric airlock tube with a deployed length of 2.5 m (8.25 ft); and a metal upper ring 1.2 m (3.96 ft) wide around the inward-opening airlock hatch 65 cm (26 in) wide. Volga's deployed internal volume was 2.5 cu/m (88.3 cu/ft). The fabric airlock tube was made rigid by about 40 airbooms clustered in three independent groups. Two groups were sufficient for deployment. The airbooms needed 7 min for full inflation. Four spherical tanks held sufficient oxygen to inflate the airbooms and pressurize the airlock. Two lights lit the airlock interior, and three 16mm cameras—two inside the airlock and one outside on a boom mounted to the upper ring—were positioned to record the historic first spacewalk. Belyayev controlled the airlock from inside Voskhod 2, but a set of backup controls for Leonov was suspended on bungee cords inside the airlock. Leonov entered Volga, then Belyayev sealed Voskhod 2 behind him and depressurized the airlock. Leonov opened Volga's outer hatch and pushed out to the end of his 15.35-m (50.7-ft) umbilical. He later stated that the umbilical gave him tight control over his movements—an observation belied by subsequent U.S. EVA experience. Leonov reported looking down and seeing from the Straits of Gibraltar to the Caspian Sea. After Leonov returned to his couch, Belyayev fired pyrotechnic bolts to discard Volga. Sergei Korolev, Chief Designer at OKB-1 Design Bureau (now RKK Energia), stated after the EVA that Leonov could have remained outside for much longer than he did, while Mstislav Keldysh, "chief theoretician" of the Soviet space program and President of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, said that the EVA showed that future cosmonauts would find work in space easy. The government news agency TASS reported that, "outside the ship and after returning, Leonov feels well." However, post-Cold War Russian documents have revealed a different story. They report that Leonov's Berkut suit ballooned, making bending difficult. Because of this, Leonov was unable to reach the shutter switch on his thigh for his chest-mounted camera. He could not take pictures of Voskhod 2, nor was he able to recover the camera mounted on Volga which recorded his EVA for posterity. After 12 min Leonov reentered Volga. Recent accounts say that he violated procedure by entering the airlock head first, then got stuck sideways when he turned to close the outer hatch. This forced him to flirt with dysbarism (the "bends") by lowering his suit pressure so he could bend enough to free himself. Leonov recently revealed that he had a suicide pill he could have swallowed if he had been unable to ingress Voskhod 2 and Belyayev had been forced to leave him in orbit. Doctors reported that Leonov nearly suffered heatstroke—his core body temperature climbed 1.8 deg C (3.1 deg F) in 20 min—and Leonov stated that he was "up to his knees" in sweat, so that his suit sloshed when he moved. In an interview published in the Soviet Military Review in 1980, Leonov downplayed his difficulties and stated that "building manned orbital stations and exploring the Universe are inseparably linked with man's activity in open space. There is no end of work in this field."

"The First Egress of Man Into Space" (NASA TT F-9727), by Alexei Leonov, translation of "Pervyy vykhod chelovka v kosmicheskoye prostranstvo," presented at the XIVth International Astronautics Congress, Athens, September 13-18, 1965; "Orbital Castling: Life of Mir Station Will Be Prolonged Three More Years," Segodnya in Russian, May 11, 1995, p. 9. Translated in JPRS Report, Central Eurasia: Space, August 2, 1995 (FBIS-UST-95-030), p. 20; "Man In Open Space," Soviet Military Review interview, March, 1980, pp. 14-17. In USSR Report: Space, No. I1 (JPRS 78264), June 10, 1981, p. 19; "The Friendly Solar Wind," Komsomol'skaya Pravda in Russian, Alexei Leonov, March 18, 1983, p. 4. Translated in USSR Report: Space, No. 24 (JPRS 84161), August 22, 1983, pp. 11-13; "Voskhod 2 Flight Recalled," Spaceflight, June 1990, p. 193; Astronautics and Aeronautics, 1965, NASA SP 4006, 1966, pp. 132, 138.