Questions tagged [equipment]
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What spares were taken on Apollo missions, and what was left behind? The question of gloves
In the graphic novel based on John Michael Greer's 'The Next 10 Billion Years', there's a haunting picture of the descent stage of a lunar module (the shorter online version, 'Grounded', is here: ...
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Why would astronauts need a wristwatch and a separate timer?
Watching this image used in this question
Why would astronauts in SpaceX's Crew Dragon need two separate timing devices: one portable digital timer, and one wristwatch, rather than carrying into orbit ...
user19132
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Understanding the difference between pointing knowledge, pointing accuracy and pointing stability?
In terms of specifications for satellite Attitude Determination And Control System (ADCS) hardware, my understanding is that pointing knowledge is for attitude determination, whereas pointing accuracy ...
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Why the Snoopy Cap rather than a conventional headset?
Why do American astronauts wear the "snoopy cap" elastic hood with communications headset rather than a more conventional style of headset that doesn't have a hood? Does the cap provide ...
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Are there examples of spaceflight equipment being redesigned to remove right hand bias? (To make it less difficult to use left-handed)
Writing First left-handed primate on the Moon? First in space? got me thinking. The first left-handed astronaut may "break a barrier" but not all barrier-breakings result in an improvement ...
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Was the JWST's shipment from California to French Guiana kept secret or otherwise anonymized during transport?
It's not often that a sea ship is spotted with cargo worth one hundred ten billion dollars.
I vaguely recall reading an article several months ago where someone from NASA mentioned that they would not ...
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Why were American Apollo-era launch towers red, and why was the reused elements of the Shuttle-era FSS painted over in grey?
This image of STS-8 shows red peeking through the grey of the launch structure. That got me thinking...
Mercury-Atlas launch towers were red (although Mercury-Redstone's towers were yellow, I think)
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- 10.9k
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Are cherry-pickers a new thing in spaceflight?
NASA Spaceflight's Chang Zheng-4B launches with two Tianhui 2 satellites links to the following @Cosmic_Penguin tweet
It turns out to be...something else, an LM-4B successfully launching the 2nd pair ...
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What ground systems are needed to support a launch?
What types of ground support equipment (GSE) go into supporting a launch?
The few I can think of: the launch tower, the crawler erector, a fueling system, maybe a cooling system.
What else? I would be ...
user39728
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Did Skylab have several giant spirit levels? That's what these look like to me, except there's no bubble
The BBC's Skylab: The myth of the mutiny in space shows the image below of one big circular end bulkhead of the main Skylab main space, with an astronaut in the center hatch and giant air manifolds ...
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Are the Perseverance core samples extracted from the drill bit before being stored?
Among other tasks, the Perseverance rover will drill core samples of rocks, which are then stored in sample tubes for their return to Earth.
Are the core samples removed from the drill bit before ...
- 48.1k
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Would standard rackmount electronics fit on an International Space Station rack?
A lot of commercially-produced electronic equipment is designed for a 19-inch rack (or less commonly, 23-inch) with a particular spacing for mounting holes. Much of the pressurized volume of the ...
- 48.1k
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In what conditions are the electronics of New Horizons housed?
In one of answers to the question What are the long term effects of Space Weathering on man-made materials? there is a link to Wikipedia article about Kapton. In this article mentioned that
NASA's ...
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What was Apollo "Moon rope" made out of? Was it ever used?
This excellent answer to Did Conrad and Bean balk at entering the 650-foot-wide Surveyor Crater, or just express concern? What data had they seen? contains several references to a 30 foot length of &...
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What is a K-bottle?
This answer has pictures of the Enterprise shuttle, which was used for gliding and landing tests. One picture (included below) shows oxygen, hydrogen, and ammonia stored in "K-bottles". ...
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