NASA Worldwide Spacecraft Crew Hatch History

NASA Worldwide Spacecraft Crew Hatch History

Comprehensive Technical Material on Manned Spacecraft Hatches from Mercury to the International Space Station (ISS) and Shenzhou

NASA (National Aeronautics & Space Administration)

This official NASA document - converted for accurate flowing-text ebook format reproduction - provides a compilation of historical information on manned spacecraft crew hatches.

The Johnson Space Center (JSC) Flight Safety Office has developed this compilation of historical information on spacecraft crew hatches to assist the Safety Tech Authority in the evaluation and analysis of worldwide spacecraft crew hatch design and performance.

The document was prepared by SAIC's [Science Applications International Corporation's] Gary Johnson, former NASA JSC Safety & Mission Assurance (S&MA) Associate Director for Technical. Mr. Johnson's previous experience brings expert knowledge to assess the relevancy of the data presented. He has experience with six of the NASA spacecraft programs that are covered in this document: Apollo, Skylab, Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP), space shuttle, International Space Station (ISS), and the Shuttle/Mir Program. Mr. Johnson is also intimately familiar with the JSC Design and Procedures Standard, JPR [JSC Procedural Requirements] 8080.5, having been one of its original developers.

The observations and findings are presented first by country and are then organized within each country section by program in chronological order of emergence. A host of reference sources used to augment the personal observations and comments of the author are listed in the reference section of this document. Careful attention to the selection and inclusion of photographs, drawings, and diagrams is used to give visual association and clarity to the topic areas examined.

46 pages - in English