a11_v_bw_o_n (S-69-39270, 108-KSC-69P-586 eq, 69-H-1098 eq)
“APOLLO 11 TRAINING---Astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot of the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission, participates in lunar extravehicular activity training under weightlessness conditions aboard a U.S. Air Force KC-135 jet aircraft from nearby Patrick Air Force Base. Aldrin is wearing an Extravehicular Mobility Unit, the type of equipment which he will wear on the lunar surface.”
As expected and the norm, vague mediocre writing/articulation & only marginally ‘correct’. First, note that Aldrin is standing on the rung (fifth from the top) of a partial mock-up of the Lunar Module’s porch and primary landing strut (with the first/top five rungs).
Although I’ve probably seen this photograph a thousand times, I always ONLY fleetingly wondered why Aldrin appears to be either tossing or catching the Apollo Lunar Sample Return Container (ALSRC). I’ll address that at the end.
With that said, note that the ALSRC is attached, using a “waist/EVA tether”, which has carabiners (one large/one small) on either end. The following fascinating extracts from the stellar Apollo Lunar Surface Journal shed light on its multipurpose uses. Who knew!?! I didn’t!!! Did you?!?
“EASEP Deployment and Closeout
[As can be seen in full-resolution versions of the restored video, about 40 seconds before Buzz's next transmission, he reaches the top of the ladder and, before he gets up on the porch, appears to be doing something with his left hand at the base of the porch rail. In a detail
www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/static/history/alsj/a11/a...
from AS11-40-5868, taken by Neil as Buzz was climbing down the ladder not long after 109:39:43, we see the large waist-tether snap hook Buzz attached to the base of the left porch rail. Note that the strap goes from the base of the large hook up onto the porch, around the inside of the porch rail, and then hangs down with the small waist-tether snap hook visible behind the ladder strut. Before going up on the porch, Buzz may be repositioning the hook and strap so that the strap hangs its full length and the small hook may be in Neil's reach, as Buzz suggests at 111:26:47. A detail
www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/static/history/alsj/a11/a...
from training photo S69-31114 shows a waist tether hanging down its full length with a Hasselblad attached to the small hook. The waist tether is 50 inches (127 cm) long from hook tip to hook tip.]
111:25:57 Aldrin: How are you coming, Neil?
111:25:58 Armstrong: Okay. (Long Pause) Did you get that solar wind rolled up there, Buzz?
111:26:24 Aldrin: Right. That's it, right there.
111:26:25 Armstrong: Okay. (Long Pause)
111:26:47 Aldrin: If you think you can reach this hook that's hanging over here? You might entertain the idea of sending up the second one (that is, the second rock box) that way.
111:26:59 Armstrong: Okay. (Pause)
[Buzz is suggesting that, rather than use the LEC, clothesline-style for the second rock box, Neil hook the box to the small waist-tether hook, climb up to the porch, and then pull the box up hand-over-hand. In the end, Neil decides not to do that but, on Apollos 16 and 17, the crews will do several transfers that way.]”
Further, at the conclusion of the EVA, another reference to the waist tether:
“111:37:35 Armstrong: (Sounding quite relaxed) Yes, I did. And we got about, I'd say, 20 pounds of carefully selected - if not documented - samples.
111:37:45 McCandless: (Background laughter in Houston) Houston; Roger. Well done. Out.
111:37:47 Armstrong: In the second box. (Pause)
[When Neil got to the top of the ladder, he probably unhooked the waist tether from the porch rail, so he could take it in the cabin. They would need both waist tethers if they had to make an EVA transfer to the Command Module.]”
Above at/from:
www.nasa.gov/history/alsj/a11/a11.clsout.html
I'm not done yet…a novel & field-expedient use of the waist tether:
“Armstrong - "I didn't mind sleeping on the engine cover. I didn't find it that bad. I made a hammock out of a waist tether - which I attached to some structure handholds - to hold my feet up in the air and in the middle of the cockpit. This kept my feet up about level with or a little higher than my torso."”
Along with much more, the above also from the ALSJ, at/from:
www.nasa.gov/history/alsj/WOTM/WOTM-Sleep.html
As if all of the above wasn’t enough, there’s this:
www.cnet.com/pictures/neil-armstrongs-apollo-11-moon-gear...
Specifically/Pertinently:
www.cnet.com/a/img/resize/da59337d3d155c2884776375f2cefe7...
Credit: CNET website
Wait, there’s more! You think I went down the rabbit hole on this? Wait until you read the exhaustive section pertaining to the waist tether. I personally LOVE it. AND, it conclusively proves that the one found in Neil’s closet is THE waist tether in question:
www.nasa.gov/history/alsj/a11/a11NASM.html
As a bonus, there’s a photograph of Aldrin (with the tether) taken during this same training session aboard the KC-135. I assume the ALSRC is on the other end of it?:
www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/static/history/alsj/a11/a...
All fantastic stuff! But back to what’s transpiring in the posted photograph.
WTF is Aldrin doing with the ALSRC? Obviously, it’s occurring during simulated ⅙g. So, is he determining/making note of its rate of descent in such? If/When accidentally dropped on the moon? Is he testing the tensile strength of the waist tether once it's reached full extension? Is he ascertaining the structural integrity and/or seal of the ALSRC...if dropped?
The expression on his face doesn’t seem to reflect levity or that he’s goofing off. I can't imagine Aldrin being that..."casual"...not six days out from launch. Somebody needs to ask him while he’s still with us. I wanna know. Don’t you?
Finally, the older gentleman in the background is Donald "Don" Griggs. Unfortunately, there’s very little on him, usually, only as referenced to by others. Whatever his official title/position was, he was THE MAN when it came to the conduct of any/all parabolic flight training of astronauts. He is in a great many photographs of such. I’ll try to dig up some more on him.
Oh yeah...the backward "D" directly under Aldrin's right hand is the D-ring handle, attached to the lanyard (also visible), which was pulled to deploy the Modular/Modularized Equipment Stowage Assembly (MESA). This was done during the initial descent down the ladder by Armstrong. The television camera was mounted in the MESA.
a11_v_bw_o_n (S-69-39270, 108-KSC-69P-586 eq, 69-H-1098 eq)
“APOLLO 11 TRAINING---Astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot of the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission, participates in lunar extravehicular activity training under weightlessness conditions aboard a U.S. Air Force KC-135 jet aircraft from nearby Patrick Air Force Base. Aldrin is wearing an Extravehicular Mobility Unit, the type of equipment which he will wear on the lunar surface.”
As expected and the norm, vague mediocre writing/articulation & only marginally ‘correct’. First, note that Aldrin is standing on the rung (fifth from the top) of a partial mock-up of the Lunar Module’s porch and primary landing strut (with the first/top five rungs).
Although I’ve probably seen this photograph a thousand times, I always ONLY fleetingly wondered why Aldrin appears to be either tossing or catching the Apollo Lunar Sample Return Container (ALSRC). I’ll address that at the end.
With that said, note that the ALSRC is attached, using a “waist/EVA tether”, which has carabiners (one large/one small) on either end. The following fascinating extracts from the stellar Apollo Lunar Surface Journal shed light on its multipurpose uses. Who knew!?! I didn’t!!! Did you?!?
“EASEP Deployment and Closeout
[As can be seen in full-resolution versions of the restored video, about 40 seconds before Buzz's next transmission, he reaches the top of the ladder and, before he gets up on the porch, appears to be doing something with his left hand at the base of the porch rail. In a detail
www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/static/history/alsj/a11/a...
from AS11-40-5868, taken by Neil as Buzz was climbing down the ladder not long after 109:39:43, we see the large waist-tether snap hook Buzz attached to the base of the left porch rail. Note that the strap goes from the base of the large hook up onto the porch, around the inside of the porch rail, and then hangs down with the small waist-tether snap hook visible behind the ladder strut. Before going up on the porch, Buzz may be repositioning the hook and strap so that the strap hangs its full length and the small hook may be in Neil's reach, as Buzz suggests at 111:26:47. A detail
www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/static/history/alsj/a11/a...
from training photo S69-31114 shows a waist tether hanging down its full length with a Hasselblad attached to the small hook. The waist tether is 50 inches (127 cm) long from hook tip to hook tip.]
111:25:57 Aldrin: How are you coming, Neil?
111:25:58 Armstrong: Okay. (Long Pause) Did you get that solar wind rolled up there, Buzz?
111:26:24 Aldrin: Right. That's it, right there.
111:26:25 Armstrong: Okay. (Long Pause)
111:26:47 Aldrin: If you think you can reach this hook that's hanging over here? You might entertain the idea of sending up the second one (that is, the second rock box) that way.
111:26:59 Armstrong: Okay. (Pause)
[Buzz is suggesting that, rather than use the LEC, clothesline-style for the second rock box, Neil hook the box to the small waist-tether hook, climb up to the porch, and then pull the box up hand-over-hand. In the end, Neil decides not to do that but, on Apollos 16 and 17, the crews will do several transfers that way.]”
Further, at the conclusion of the EVA, another reference to the waist tether:
“111:37:35 Armstrong: (Sounding quite relaxed) Yes, I did. And we got about, I'd say, 20 pounds of carefully selected - if not documented - samples.
111:37:45 McCandless: (Background laughter in Houston) Houston; Roger. Well done. Out.
111:37:47 Armstrong: In the second box. (Pause)
[When Neil got to the top of the ladder, he probably unhooked the waist tether from the porch rail, so he could take it in the cabin. They would need both waist tethers if they had to make an EVA transfer to the Command Module.]”
Above at/from:
www.nasa.gov/history/alsj/a11/a11.clsout.html
I'm not done yet…a novel & field-expedient use of the waist tether:
“Armstrong - "I didn't mind sleeping on the engine cover. I didn't find it that bad. I made a hammock out of a waist tether - which I attached to some structure handholds - to hold my feet up in the air and in the middle of the cockpit. This kept my feet up about level with or a little higher than my torso."”
Along with much more, the above also from the ALSJ, at/from:
www.nasa.gov/history/alsj/WOTM/WOTM-Sleep.html
As if all of the above wasn’t enough, there’s this:
www.cnet.com/pictures/neil-armstrongs-apollo-11-moon-gear...
Specifically/Pertinently:
www.cnet.com/a/img/resize/da59337d3d155c2884776375f2cefe7...
Credit: CNET website
Wait, there’s more! You think I went down the rabbit hole on this? Wait until you read the exhaustive section pertaining to the waist tether. I personally LOVE it. AND, it conclusively proves that the one found in Neil’s closet is THE waist tether in question:
www.nasa.gov/history/alsj/a11/a11NASM.html
As a bonus, there’s a photograph of Aldrin (with the tether) taken during this same training session aboard the KC-135. I assume the ALSRC is on the other end of it?:
www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/static/history/alsj/a11/a...
All fantastic stuff! But back to what’s transpiring in the posted photograph.
WTF is Aldrin doing with the ALSRC? Obviously, it’s occurring during simulated ⅙g. So, is he determining/making note of its rate of descent in such? If/When accidentally dropped on the moon? Is he testing the tensile strength of the waist tether once it's reached full extension? Is he ascertaining the structural integrity and/or seal of the ALSRC...if dropped?
The expression on his face doesn’t seem to reflect levity or that he’s goofing off. I can't imagine Aldrin being that..."casual"...not six days out from launch. Somebody needs to ask him while he’s still with us. I wanna know. Don’t you?
Finally, the older gentleman in the background is Donald "Don" Griggs. Unfortunately, there’s very little on him, usually, only as referenced to by others. Whatever his official title/position was, he was THE MAN when it came to the conduct of any/all parabolic flight training of astronauts. He is in a great many photographs of such. I’ll try to dig up some more on him.
Oh yeah...the backward "D" directly under Aldrin's right hand is the D-ring handle, attached to the lanyard (also visible), which was pulled to deploy the Modular/Modularized Equipment Stowage Assembly (MESA). This was done during the initial descent down the ladder by Armstrong. The television camera was mounted in the MESA.