[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.

[djellison]

Complete fiction - there are pictures of Neil with his helmet off INSIDE the LEM after the spacewalk finished - but if he had done it on the moon during the EVA it would have meant a very rapid and certain death.

Doug

[Stu]

I think my friend must be joking.

I think it's a pretty safe bet he was, yes...

One thing you don't want to do in a vacuum is take your helmet off. Have you seen what happened to Arnie in the film TOTAL RECALL when he takes his helmet off? Well, it wouldn't be as melodramatic or bloody a death as that, but it would definitely be a death.

[Canopus]

I think it's a pretty safe bet he was, yes...

My friend is dead serious, though; have interacted with him for years. And he's otherwise not the "joke around" type -- especially not when it comes to facts. He's quite knowledgeable about planetary science, the history of space exploration, etc.

I'm frankly surprised he would post and comment on that photo as though it were fact:

Neil Armstrong's experiment, in which he removed his helmet briefly on the Moon, didn't last long enough for any physical damage to occur.

That's his comment. I've known him long enough to know he's serious. :-\ If he's not being serious, it's the first time I've "misunderstood" him in that context.

And yes, I'm certain such a thing is impossible...which is why I'm surprised HE apparently does! Just the fact that he'd put it forth as fact made me wonder if I were losing it...

[Toma B]

My friend is dead serious...
I've known him long enough to know he's serious.

Well....
You obviously don't know him well enough yet.

[djellison]

An obvious photoshop job - the 'head' in that shot has been lifted from a shot taken inside, after the EVA.

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/...S11-37-5528.jpg
high res : http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/...1-37-5528HR.jpg

Doug

[Canopus]

He also posted this link in conjunction with that photo/comment:

http://www.sff.net/people/Geoffrey.Landis/vacuum.html

He refers to Joe Kittinger, Jr., having (supposedly) lost pressurization in his right glove during a 19.5 mile ascent in an unpressurized balloon gondola...

Again, my friend sure seems to take the Armstrong photo seriously -- which flabberghasts me. :-\

[djellison]

It's a fake - the story is fictional, the image is a photoshop job. There's no debate to be had. You could always get the complete Apollo 11 downlink DVD set and sit him infront of it for the full EVA duration to see that it didn't happen.

Doug

[Stu]

C'mon mate, look at the photo, it's not even a GOOD Photoshop job. The head is the wrong scale, there's so much "build up" behind his head he looks like he's wearing Chris Bonnington's biggest rucksack, and as Doug pointed out that "head" is lifted from a very well-known pic.

No offense, but if your friend really is "knowledgeable about planetary science, the history of space exploration" then he should know the basic fact that taking off your helmet in space is not a brilliant idea. I hope you don't ever believe him if he tells you he's "knowledgeable" about installing a gas boiler or fixing car brakes...

I mean, next he'll be telling you that someone played golf on the Moon, or sneaked some first day covers onboard their spaceship to sell afterwards...

[Guest_PhilCo126_*]

Moreover Apollo 11 didn't carry a small chariot/wheel barrow as shown on the leftside in that photo.
A wheeled cart like that was used on Apollo 14 by Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell...

Serious question: what would happen if You take off Your helmet in a vacuum (as space and the lunar surface without an atmoshere are in fact a vacuum). I believe as our body has 1 standard atmosphere to counteract, in a zero atmosphere, the body would explode (outwards)

[djellison]

The link in Post 7 actually tries to look at the human-to-vacuum problem - it's quite interesting.

Doug

[hendric]

Well, even if you could get the helmet retaining ring loose with the pressure from the air inside pushing out, I imagine said helmet would immediately fly like a released kid's ballon. I don't think they had 14psi air, more like 5psi right? But give the area of the bottom of the helmet, say 150-300 square inches, I would wager the helmet would get completely blown out of their hands.

As for the physiological effects, I think you would asphyxiate in seconds, since the vacuum would actively suck the oxygen out of your blood, then your exposed skin would freeze, and then you would slowly sublimate. Similar to what happens with a comet, in a manner of looking at it. The skin would be strong enough to hold in fluids, so you wouldn't expand like a ballon. After all, divers who come up from depth too quickly and get the bends don't explode.

[charborob]

Moreover Apollo 11 didn't carry a small chariot/wheel barrow as shown on the leftside in that photo.
A wheeled cart like that was used on Apollo 14 by Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell...

Actually, that picture comes from Apollo 12. It has been inverted and modified with Neil Armstrong's face.
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a12/AS12-49-7318.jpg

[The Messenger]

A drop in pressure from 5 psi to a vacuum would be survivable if it is gradual (5-20 seconds); removing the helmet without first depressurizing would not be possible, and replacing the helmet and repressurizing before Armstrong passed out rather impossible: The design of the apollo helmet latching system is definitely not phone booth-friendly.

So either the photo is a fake, or the lunar landing is a fake. You decide.


Edited to add: Some people live in vacuum their whole life.

[Canopus]

C'mon mate, look at the photo, it's not even a GOOD Photoshop job. The head is the wrong scale, there's so much "build up" behind his head he looks like he's wearing Chris Bonnington's biggest rucksack, and as Doug pointed out that "head" is lifted from a very well-known pic.

I'm a woman.

Yes, I know...and I certainly figured if something like this HAD occurred, I'd certainly have heard about it before now!

No offense, but if your friend really is "knowledgeable about planetary science, the history of space exploration" then he should know the basic fact that taking off your helmet in space is not a brilliant idea. I hope you don't ever believe him if he tells you he's "knowledgeable" about installing a gas boiler or fixing car brakes...

I mean, next he'll be telling you that someone played golf on the Moon, or sneaked some first day covers onboard their spaceship to sell afterwards...

Well...honestly, he IS knowledgeable. Have seen him interact with other folks for years regarding physics, astronomy, planetary science, etc.; others who are more his equal in that regard than I, who agree/converse with him.

Now this, out of the blue.

For a moment there he had me questioning just what I do know about the vacuum of space and etc.

Ah well, enough said...