Apollo 13 hypothermia...

[pharoah0110]

I was watching Apollo 13 (for the ten-thousandth time) last night, and a curiosity hit me.
In the movie, and more than likely on the actual flight, after the ship had rounded the Moon and was headed back to Terra Firma, most of the systems were shut down in order to save power, including the heaters. The end result was of course everything frosting over or freezing (remember the frozen weiner?) and the crew was visibly very cold.
I was simply wondering why the crew would not have donned thier EVA suits to keep thier body heat until the heaters could've been turned back on. After all, weren't these suits designed to do just that?
I'm sure there was a reason, I just can't figure out what it would be.
Any takers?
Cheers.

There are only two reasons that I can come up with:
1. The suits would have been too bulky and unweildy in the limited space. However, on the return trip, and with all the systems powered down, there really wasn't all that much to do but wait and occasionally talk to MC.
2. NASA may have wanted the EVA suits to be saved (that is, the O2) for the eventuality that an EVA of some sort had to actually be performed. Again though, they wouldn't have had to actually use any of the O2, just wear the main suit to keep body heat in.

 

[Ursus]

[Shrugs.] Wouldn't be fair to the CM pilot, who wouldn't have a suit?

Edit: Not only wouldn't he have had the benefit of the suit holding his own body heat in, but the LM probably would have been colder because the other crew members' body heat would have been contained by their suits.

 

[gimp1992]

Maybe it's that there were only 2 suites that were for EVA, so Swigert was out of luck. Also there would have been no room for three men in pressure suits in the LEM.

 

[pharoah0110]

What about the Suit Swigert was wearing during the launch?

 

[Missioncmdr]

It is also important to remember that the suits only function properly if they had power (which they could not spare). The cold sweat with a bulky spacesuit on probably would have made the situtation worse.

 

[DaveS]

What about the Suit Swigert was wearing during the launch?

Those were not EVA suits. They were just pressure suits in the event of a cabin leak during launch/entry. They were similar to the ACES that the shuttle crews use during launch and landing.

 

[Kyle]

Those were not EVA suits. They were just pressure suits in the event of a cabin leak during launch/entry. They were similar to the ACES that the shuttle crews use during launch and landing.

They don't wear the suits for Re-Entry, only if their was a Launch Abort.

 

[Deke]

If it makes any difference, Jim Lovell wore the EVA boots to keep warm the night before they reentered...

 

[pilotpercy]

ive always wonderd about this, in response to the claim that they need power to work, this is true but without power they are still a glorified coat and pants, giving much more insulation that the "pjs" that they wore, and in sub zero temps i know which i'd prefer to be in

 

[Rotareneg]

I can't remember if I read it in the book or the mission reports, but the reason they didn't wear the suits was that without the cooling systems running they are too warm. Climbing out of a hot suit into the cold cabin while covered in sweat would be far worse than just putting up with the cold.

 

[spcefrk]

High altitude climbers deal with this all the time. It's important not to warm yourself to the point of sweating, otherwise you'll exacerbate the problem. (I'm no expert on climbing but i've seen it discussed in several documentaries). It's important to keep warm, but you can't start sweating either otherwise you'll cool off faster and dip into hypothermia faster. Without power in the suits, I'm willing to bet that was a prime concern.

Although, I don't see why (without going down the surface) they didn't feel there was plenty of time budgeted for using the suits.

 

[n122vu]

I can't remember if I read it in the book or the mission reports, but the reason they didn't wear the suits was that without the cooling systems running they are too warm. Climbing out of a hot suit into the cold cabin while covered in sweat would be far worse than just putting up with the cold.

Not to mention they would need to climb in and out of them every time they needed "relief"

Which brings up a side question for me that someone can answer in a pm if they like - don't want to hijack.

In the movie Apollo 13, they show Jim Lovell using a waste receptacle and then Haise does an overboard dump (The constellation Urine). And MC tells them later to cease this as they are afraid the dump will create thrust and throw off the trajectory. Yet in the miniseries "When We Left The Earth" I know I heard them say that the Apollo astronauts had no means of waste disposal and went in their jumpsuits. They showed the A13 crew getting off the helicopter in their soiled suits. (Actually, I think Lovell also mentions this in the special features of the DVD). Out of curiousity's sake, I just wondered which was true. If they did go in their suits, wouldn't that also increase risk of hypothermia?

 

[Rosey]

I believe the reason why they did not wear the launch suits is because the LEM was rather small for 3 people to be in .. and with their suits, they might not have been able to fit in all three guys. You need to remember that compared to the CSM, the LEM was only designed for two people. Remember when the Russian launched three guys in their first flight of Salyut and they did not take suits to save space .. and when they came back to Earth they died becaue of decompression!!! I bet the Salyut capsul was not much bigger then the LEM. Soyus can fit three people an suits are no problem

That is my guess