[X] My Assistant

[Drkskywxlt]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19142473/

NASA is studying the rip, but they are not concerned at the moment because the rip is in a non-critical area. Atlantis will reach ISS tomorrow afternoon to add the next set of solar panels.

[dvandorn]

To be fair, the makeshift fender was assembled (i.e., taped together) inside the LM cabin between EVAs 1 and 2. That wasn't done because the tape wouldn't work in a vacuum, it was done because it's easier to manipulate the tape and cards with bare hands. The tape certainly held up fine when it was taken out into a vacuum, though. And though the fender failed near the end of EVA 3, it was because one of the two AOT light clamps used to attach it failed. The tape stayed on just fine the whole time, and yes, they brought the piece back and it is currently on display at the NASM.

However, to support the successful use of tape on Apollo 15 that I mentioned, here are a few snippets of the air-to-ground transcription, courtesy of Eric Jones' Apollo Lunar Surface Journal:

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138:51:57 Fullerton: Okay. (Pause) Let me cross-check that here and see if we can get any more words on that. Let me give you one other suggestion and that's for securing the high-gain antenna cable on the Rover (to prevent snags such as occurred at Station 2). We'd like to suggest that you get the roll of tape out, strip off about 1 foot, and fold a 1- to 2-inch tab on one end of it and wrap that piece of tape around the CDR camera so that after you get down to the Rover you can use it to secure the high-gain cable to the high-gain antenna mast and keep it from flopping around. Over.

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In this snippet, CapCom Gordon Fullerton is telling the crew to wrap a piece of tape around Dave Scott's camera before they get out so they can tape up the cabling and prevent it from hanging up the TCU (Television Control Unit) as it tried to pan, as happened during EVA 1. What the crew actually did was to put strips of tape onto their wrist-mounted checklists which, made of plasticized paper, was the only surface on the suit which was dust-free enough for the tape to easily stick to.

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142:32:52 Allen: Okay. And while you're working there, Dave, you did such a beautiful job on fixing Jim's PLSS antenna, we've got another Walter Mitty repair job we'd like for you to carry out for us, please, on the cable lead from the high gain antenna to the LCRU, and when you think you're at a good place to do that, I'll go through a description of what we need.

[Mitty was the fictional hero of the James Thurber story, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. In real-life, Mitty was an unremarkable, inconspicuous, henpecked man who, in his daydreams, was courageous and resourceful and lived a life of high adventure.]

142:33:20 Scott: Gee, I'm right there, Joe.

142:33:22 Allen: Roger, Dave. Basically, our camera keeps hanging...

142:33:25 Irwin: And, Joe, I'm going to put...

142:33:27 Allen : ... our camera keeps hanging up on that cable, and we'd like for you perhaps, if you think it's feasible, to tape a part of a cable below the fastening device on the staff of the high-gain antenna. If you think a piece of tape right there might help, we suggest you go ahead and do that now.

142:33:52 Scott: Joe, I just completed that little task. It's all done!

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This exchange covers the actual use of the gray tape to pull the high gain antenna cable out of the way of the TCU. The tape was applied in the lunar vacuum, and held for the rest of the surface activities (including the periods after the crew left the Moon and the ground commanded the TV camera on for post-EVA site surveys).

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141:44:46 Allen: ...and, Dave, while you have the tape out there, from the sound of things, maybe you'd better put...

141:44:51 Scott: (To Jim) Wait a minute.

141:44:52 Allen: ...some of it in your pocket for later.

[The Apollo 16 and 17 crews each took a roll of tape out with them and put it to use several times during their EVAs.]

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This exchange, which followed a discussion of using the tape to fix Jim Irwin's broken PLSS radio antenna, includes a comment by Journal editor Eric Jones which confirms that both the Apollo 16 and Apollo 17 crews took rolls of the gray tape out onto the surface during their EVAs and used it on several occasions.

I'm sure I could comb through the Apollo 16 and 17 transcriptions and find more than a dozen other examples of the gray tape being used on the lunar surface, in a vacuum.

Short summary: John Shannon is absolutely mistaken.

-the other Doug