a01_v_bw_o_n (S-66-58718)
“AS-204 EGRESS TRAINING -- The prime crew for Apollo/Saturn Mission 204, the first manned Apollo flight, practice water egress training in the Gulf of Mexico. Egressing from an Apollo command module is Astronaut Virgil I. Grissom, command pilot. Sitting in life raft are Astronauts Edward H. White II (foreground), senior pilot, and Roger B. Chaffee (center background), pilot.”
By NASA standards, a passable caption. It’s at least cursorily informative, correct even. With mostly proper punctuation...damn. They even managed to spell the Astronauts’ names correctly! A rare moment indeed. Along with it being an overall wonderful, rare & somewhat poignant photograph.
However, for less than a handful of us I’m sure, the immediate glaring question is, “What’s up with those uprighting bags???”
Additionally, as in other photographs of this boilerplate’s original ‘incarnation’ as BP-1102, note the omission of the crew side hatch door.
Peripherally...that's a mighty small lone raft to accomodate three men. Maybe this was a worst case/one raft egress scenario?
Back to the uprighting bags: I recalled there being an “Apollo Experience Report” addressing and (I expected) likely resolving the uprighting bag question. At:
ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19730010171/downloads/1973001...
WRONG, all references to uprighting bags pertained to the eventual spherical design. WTF?!
THANKS to Coye Mac Jones, the following excerpt from a presentation(?) of his, exquisitely provides the answers…and more. Superb & qualifying as a “WIN”:
“Apollo BP-1102/1102A was an in-house NASA-MSC Landing and Recovery Division (LRD) designed aluminum boilerplate Apollo Command Module (CM), the crew module of the Apollo Program, Skylab Program and the Apollo Soyuz Test Project. BP-1102A is in Apollo Block II configuration (lunar mission configuration) but was initially delivered as BP-1102 in early 1965 in Apollo Block I configuration (earth orbit mission configuration) following its fabrication of aluminum alloy 5056 at Kelly AFB Air Materiel
Command in San Antonio, where also its sister boilerplate BP-1101/1101A was fabricated. It was outfitted for manned testing by NASA-MSC Technical Services Division.
BP-1102/1102A had only operational mechanical and electronic subsystems required for post-splashdown testing/training such as communications, side and forward hatches, crew couches, uprighting system, etc. All other subsystems in the boilerplate CM were simulated by mockups such as equipment bays and display panel overlays. For the uprighting system, bag inflation was accomplished by compressed air from scuba tanks and controlled as in the CM by display panel switch throw. An unusual method was used to simulate the noisy CM uprighting bag air compressors pumps - two Mattel toy bicycle V-RROOM! “motors” were installed inside the equipment bays to activate concurrently with uprighting bag inflation. (BP-1102/1102A vehicle project engineer Harry Clancy personally purchased the V-RROOM!’s.) The BP-1102 Block I uprighting bags were built in-house for training purposes while BP-1102A utilized Block II CM bags. Crew equipment, suits, survival kits/rafts, were supplied and supported by Crew Systems Division during tests and training.
LRD used BP-1102/1102A for water egress procedures for Block I[1] and Block II[2] Command Module development/evaluation and astronaut water crew egress trainer for Apollo, Skylab, and ASTP astronaut crews. Prime and backup astronaut crews trained in BP-1102/1102A first in static conditions in a water tank, then in open water conditions in the Gulf of Mexico. BP-1102A was also used as the mockup command module during the simulation of recovery quarantine procedures on the USS Guadalcanal during Apollo IX in March 1969[3].
BP-1102A is Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum Collection Object No. A19800160000, and is currently on display at the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum Stephen F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA
airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/boilerplate-command...
It is displayed with the uprighting bags and flotation collar from Apollo 11.
November 23, 2010
Updated: September 25, 2019
Updated: April 23, 2020
Written By:
Coye Mac Jones
NASA-MSC/LRD Vehicle Project Engineer in 1964-71
Retired NASA-Johnson Space Center/Houston in January 2003
References:
[1] NASA Program Apollo Working Paper No. 1213: “Crew Egress Procedures For Apollo Block I Command Module At Sea” dated December 7, 1966:
ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19700024994...
[2] NASA Program Apollo Working Paper No. 1348: “The Crew - Command Module Postlanding Interface” dated July 7, 1969:
ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19700024853...
[3] Ref: MSC Roundup, March 7, 1969, “Mobile Quarantine Trailer Gets Test During Apollo IX”:
www.jsc.nasa.gov/history/roundups/issues/69-03-07.pdf”
Additionally/finally, with some relevant/pertinent, interesting & hopefully correct observations by user “moorouge”. With some links to additional useful resources:
www.collectspace.com/ubb/Forum29/HTML/001192.html
Credit: collectSPACE website
a01_v_bw_o_n (S-66-58718)
“AS-204 EGRESS TRAINING -- The prime crew for Apollo/Saturn Mission 204, the first manned Apollo flight, practice water egress training in the Gulf of Mexico. Egressing from an Apollo command module is Astronaut Virgil I. Grissom, command pilot. Sitting in life raft are Astronauts Edward H. White II (foreground), senior pilot, and Roger B. Chaffee (center background), pilot.”
By NASA standards, a passable caption. It’s at least cursorily informative, correct even. With mostly proper punctuation...damn. They even managed to spell the Astronauts’ names correctly! A rare moment indeed. Along with it being an overall wonderful, rare & somewhat poignant photograph.
However, for less than a handful of us I’m sure, the immediate glaring question is, “What’s up with those uprighting bags???”
Additionally, as in other photographs of this boilerplate’s original ‘incarnation’ as BP-1102, note the omission of the crew side hatch door.
Peripherally...that's a mighty small lone raft to accomodate three men. Maybe this was a worst case/one raft egress scenario?
Back to the uprighting bags: I recalled there being an “Apollo Experience Report” addressing and (I expected) likely resolving the uprighting bag question. At:
ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19730010171/downloads/1973001...
WRONG, all references to uprighting bags pertained to the eventual spherical design. WTF?!
THANKS to Coye Mac Jones, the following excerpt from a presentation(?) of his, exquisitely provides the answers…and more. Superb & qualifying as a “WIN”:
“Apollo BP-1102/1102A was an in-house NASA-MSC Landing and Recovery Division (LRD) designed aluminum boilerplate Apollo Command Module (CM), the crew module of the Apollo Program, Skylab Program and the Apollo Soyuz Test Project. BP-1102A is in Apollo Block II configuration (lunar mission configuration) but was initially delivered as BP-1102 in early 1965 in Apollo Block I configuration (earth orbit mission configuration) following its fabrication of aluminum alloy 5056 at Kelly AFB Air Materiel
Command in San Antonio, where also its sister boilerplate BP-1101/1101A was fabricated. It was outfitted for manned testing by NASA-MSC Technical Services Division.
BP-1102/1102A had only operational mechanical and electronic subsystems required for post-splashdown testing/training such as communications, side and forward hatches, crew couches, uprighting system, etc. All other subsystems in the boilerplate CM were simulated by mockups such as equipment bays and display panel overlays. For the uprighting system, bag inflation was accomplished by compressed air from scuba tanks and controlled as in the CM by display panel switch throw. An unusual method was used to simulate the noisy CM uprighting bag air compressors pumps - two Mattel toy bicycle V-RROOM! “motors” were installed inside the equipment bays to activate concurrently with uprighting bag inflation. (BP-1102/1102A vehicle project engineer Harry Clancy personally purchased the V-RROOM!’s.) The BP-1102 Block I uprighting bags were built in-house for training purposes while BP-1102A utilized Block II CM bags. Crew equipment, suits, survival kits/rafts, were supplied and supported by Crew Systems Division during tests and training.
LRD used BP-1102/1102A for water egress procedures for Block I[1] and Block II[2] Command Module development/evaluation and astronaut water crew egress trainer for Apollo, Skylab, and ASTP astronaut crews. Prime and backup astronaut crews trained in BP-1102/1102A first in static conditions in a water tank, then in open water conditions in the Gulf of Mexico. BP-1102A was also used as the mockup command module during the simulation of recovery quarantine procedures on the USS Guadalcanal during Apollo IX in March 1969[3].
BP-1102A is Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum Collection Object No. A19800160000, and is currently on display at the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum Stephen F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA
airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/boilerplate-command...
It is displayed with the uprighting bags and flotation collar from Apollo 11.
November 23, 2010
Updated: September 25, 2019
Updated: April 23, 2020
Written By:
Coye Mac Jones
NASA-MSC/LRD Vehicle Project Engineer in 1964-71
Retired NASA-Johnson Space Center/Houston in January 2003
References:
[1] NASA Program Apollo Working Paper No. 1213: “Crew Egress Procedures For Apollo Block I Command Module At Sea” dated December 7, 1966:
ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19700024994...
[2] NASA Program Apollo Working Paper No. 1348: “The Crew - Command Module Postlanding Interface” dated July 7, 1969:
ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19700024853...
[3] Ref: MSC Roundup, March 7, 1969, “Mobile Quarantine Trailer Gets Test During Apollo IX”:
www.jsc.nasa.gov/history/roundups/issues/69-03-07.pdf”
Additionally/finally, with some relevant/pertinent, interesting & hopefully correct observations by user “moorouge”. With some links to additional useful resources:
www.collectspace.com/ubb/Forum29/HTML/001192.html
Credit: collectSPACE website