[X] My Assistant

[Canopus]

A friend of mine posted a photo elsewhere of Neil Armstrong supposedly having briefly de-helmeted while standing on the Moon, to see what effect this would have.

I think my friend must be joking.

I have NEVER heard of this prior, nor seen the photo. Google yields no results.

I was a little kid during Apollo, know quite a few things about the program though not exhaustively. But I do question this.

? Can anyone advise? Thanks.

[dvandorn]

Just a couple of quick points:

- The photo is indeed from Apollo 12. The hardware on the ground is the Apollo Hand Tool Carrier (HTC). This equipment was not carried on Apollo 11, since on the first landing, the crew was not expected to wander more than a few tens of meters from the LM.

- The positive pressure from within the suit would indeed have blown the helmet out of one's hands as soon as the neck ring was disengaged.

- The visor assembly (called the LEVVA) fitted over the actual pressure helmet. You couldn't get to the neckring to unlock it while the LEVVA was on top of the helmet. Therefore, you couldn't even take the helmet off in the configuration shown.

- A human being can retain consciousness for about 30 seconds in the absence of oxygen. After that, he/she falls unconscious, and within another 30 seconds, brain damage has begun. A couple of minutes go by like that, and you're just plain dead.

-the other Doug