On the 45th anniversary of the flight of the Apollo 9 spacecraft: exposing the popular myth of the lunar module, allegedly made of foil
Every time I read Russian forums that touch on the topic of human flights to the moon, I encounter absolute ignorance among members of the forum (including among technically educated people). In RuNet, it is widely believed that the lunar module, designed and built by Grumman Aerospace Corporation to land a person on the lunar surface as part of the Apollo program, is made almost of foil. Like the thickness of the walls of his cabin is so thin (most often they talk about three layers of foil) that it can be punched with your foot, and the strength of the structure is ensured by internal pressure. This misconception among domestic readers has been going on since 1976, and is based on a misinterpretation of the phrase by astronaut James Alton McDivitt, uttered by him at a press conference before the Apollo 9 spacecraft flight. Initially, it was misinterpreted by Soviet science-fiction writer and journalist Vladimir Stepanovich Gubarev, who wrote the book Space Bridges, popular in the USSR (published in 1976 in Moscow by the publishing house Young Guard). Vladimir Gubarev writes (quote from the book):
"R. Schweikart must be very careful. One wrong move and it will damage the lunar cabin. Its walls are so thin and fragile that a person can punch them with his foot, - said D. McDivitt before the start. “On Earth, the walls of the lunar cabin in many places can be damaged even by a randomly dropped screwdriver ...”
Another journalist, an equally popular popularizer of astronautics, Gubarev’s colleague, Yaroslav Kirillovich Golovanov, writes in the famous book “The Truth about the APOLLO Program” (practically copies the text of his colleague, adding his opinion, which is essentially the opinion of an amateur):
“- Schweikart must be very careful, McDivitt warned. “One wrong move, and it will damage the lunar module.” Its walls are so thin and fragile that a person can pierce them with his foot. On Earth, the walls of the lunar compartment can be damaged even by accidentally dropped screwdriver ...
For two weeks I examined the lunar cabin, which stood in the hall where the press was located during the flight of the Soyuz-19 and Apollo in Houston. The spider is made of metal foil. Not of the kind, of course, in which chocolates are wrapped, but still, if you choose from two definitions: a metal sheet or a metal foil, the foil is more accurate. In vacuum, the stiffness of this structure was increased due to internal inflation, but still it remained very subtle. ”( Source )
Take-off stage of the lunar module LM-12 of the Apollon-17 spacecraft. NASA Photo AS17-149-22857
The opinion of Yaroslav Golovanov about the structure “made of foil” and “increasing its rigidity in a vacuum” looks especially ridiculous when you look at the photos of the lunar module LTA-1, taken at the Cradle Of Aviation Museum, located in the city of East Garden City on Long Island, NY:
LTA-1 (Lunar Test Article 1) is the first instance of the lunar module (prototype), built in 1966, which is structurally similar to serial samples designed for space flight. Before LTA-1, Grumman Aerospace Corporation built only full-scale models of the lunar module (the so-called Mock-Up's: M-1, M-5, TM-1). Structurally, these mock-ups were made of metal and wood, intended for presentation to the customer (NASA), development of layout solutions for the placement of various auxiliary equipment and training of astronauts. But the power structure of the LTA-1, as well as all systems (propulsion systems, their ASG, electrical equipment, etc.) were made according to the working drawings in compliance with all technological processes. This instance was designed to refine the manufacturing process,
Docking the take-off and landing stages of the LTA-1 lunar module in the conductive electromagnetic interference test room at Grumman Aerospace Corporation, Betpage, Long Island, NY. NASA Photo S67-22164
The main structural difference between the LTA-1 and the serial samples flying into space is the front hatch, designed to exit and enter the crew from the take-off stage of the lunar module. On LTA-1 it is round in shape. Starting with LTA-8 and on all serial samples of the lunar module, at the request of astronauts, the hatch was made in a rectangular shape. The experiments carried out on board the NASA “flying laboratory” (a converted Boeing KC-135A Stratotanker tanker) experiments showed that astronauts found it much more convenient to squeeze in a spacesuit with a PLSS knapsack life-support system through a rectangular hatch in lunar gravity conditions. In 1974, after the Apollo program was completed, LTA-1 was deposited at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Aviation and Cosmonautics Museum in Washington, D.C.
The lunar module of the Apollo spacecraft structurally consists of two stages: landing and take-off. The landing stage is equipped with a liquid-propellant rocket engine (LRE) for the descent from the orbit of the artificial moon moon, landing approach and soft landing. Landing is carried out on a four-leg chassis with disk supports. Overload during landing is reduced by shortening the legs of the chassis, which are telescopic rods. Kinetic energy upon impact on the lunar surface is absorbed by the crumpled core material of an aluminum alloy. The crew, consisting of two astronauts (commander and co-pilot), is located in a sealed cockpit of the take-off stage, which is installed above the landing. The astronauts descend to the surface of the moon by stairs, fixed on one of the telescopic legs of the landing gear, located on the side of the front hatch. The take-off stage is equipped with a rocket engine for take-off from the surface (the landing stage serves as the launching pad at this stage) and to enter the orbit of the artificial moon satellite. Also, the take-off stage is equipped with a reactive control system (DCS). DCS is designed to control not only the take-off stage, but also the entire lunar module (when it is in the landing configuration) in six degrees of freedom. RDLs can operate in a group or separately - continuously or impulse. Since the take-off stage contained the crew, its design is of the greatest interest within the framework of the mass delusion under consideration. The take-off stage is equipped with a rocket engine for take-off from the surface (the landing stage serves as the launching pad at this stage) and to enter the orbit of the artificial moon satellite. Also, the take-off stage is equipped with a reactive control system (DCS). DCS is designed to control not only the take-off stage, but also the entire lunar module (when it is in the landing configuration) in six degrees of freedom. RDLs can operate in a group or separately - continuously or impulse. Since the take-off stage contained the crew, its design is of the greatest interest within the framework of the mass delusion under consideration. The take-off stage is equipped with a rocket engine for take-off from the surface (the landing stage serves as the launching pad at this stage) and to enter the orbit of the artificial moon satellite. Also, the take-off stage is equipped with a reactive control system (DCS). DCS is designed to control not only the take-off stage, but also the entire lunar module (when it is in the landing configuration) in six degrees of freedom. RDLs can operate in a group or separately - continuously or impulse. Since the take-off stage contained the crew, its design is of the greatest interest within the framework of the mass delusion under consideration. but also the entire lunar module (when it is in the landing configuration) in six degrees of freedom. RDLs can operate in a group or separately - continuously or impulse. Since the take-off stage contained the crew, its design is of the greatest interest within the framework of the mass delusion under consideration. but also the entire lunar module (when it is in the landing configuration) in six degrees of freedom. RDLs can operate in a group or separately - continuously or impulse. Since the take-off stage contained the crew, its design is of the greatest interest within the framework of the mass delusion under consideration.
The main structure of the take-off stage of the lunar module is a semi-monocoque structure made of well-welded duralumin alloy 2219 (the main alloying element is copper) and a high-strength deformable aluminum alloy 7075-T6 (the main alloying element is zinc), which have isotropic characteristics. The main structure consists of three main parts: the cockpit, the central section and the rear compartment of the equipment:
Only the crew cabin and the central section are sealed. These two parts are a welded and forged structure formed by a cylindrical shell and reinforced by circumferentially chained stringers formed of sheet duralumin, as well as transverse milled spars to which the structural elements of the take-off stage of the lunar module (beams, connecting brackets, etc.) are attached .). In the cylindrical part of the cockpit above the commander’s workstation, a docking port aperture reinforced along the perimeter was made. The front of the cockpit is formed by flat milled panels of sheet duralumin, also reinforced by stringers and side members on the bends. In front of the cockpit there are two triangular openings for the front view windows, reinforced around the perimeter,
According to technical reports on the lunar module ( NTRS archives), the wall thickness of the shell of the cockpit and the central section of the take-off stage of the lunar module reaches 0.065 inches (1.651 mm). This value is an order of magnitude greater than the thickness of the foil (in most countries, the generally accepted definition of foil is the sheet metal thickness of up to 0.2 mm), and is thicker than the casing of the supersonic passenger aircraft Tu-144 (1.2 mm) and Concorde (1.5 mm), which were operated in more severe conditions than the lunar module: aerodynamic heating during flights at high supersonic speeds in the stratosphere, cyclic stresses in a sealed fuselage structure due to constant pressure drops, aerodynamic effects (bending, twisting), etc. . Have been recorded in the operation of Tu-144 and Concorde cases "foot skin penetration."
In some places (unstressed), in order to reduce the weight of the structure, the wall thickness was reduced by chemical milling to 0.012 inches (0.3 mm).
A propulsion system is attached to the main structure of the take-off stage of the lunar module, consisting of two fuel tanks rigidly fixed in the central section of the Rocketdyne RS-18 take-off liquid propellant rocket engine (developed on the basis of the Bell 8247 engine): from the left side of the central section using supporting rod beams a spherical fuel tank was installed ("Aerosin-50"), on the starboard side of the central section a spherical oxidizer tank (nitrogen tetroxide) was similarly installed.
To the rear of the central section, as well as to the cockpit, brackets are attached through brackets that hold four DCS blocks with sixteen Marquardt R-4D rocket engines (four engines are grouped). Four cylindrical-shaped fuel tanks with hemispherical bottoms are located symmetrically on the port side and starboard sides of the central section. Fuel components are similar to those used in the main propulsion system. Between the tanks with fuel and oxidizer for the liquid propellant rocket engine on each side, spherical tanks with helium are installed for the displacement system of these engines. Two spherical tanks with water, as well as blocks of transmitting antennas, are attached to the upper part of the central section.
The propellant gas (helium) for the main propulsion system is also stored in spherical tanks. They are located in the rear compartment of the equipment along with two helium pressure reduction modules, a control valve for the main propulsion system (controls the supply of fuel components displaced by the boost pressure with helium to the RS-18 take-off rocket combustion chamber) and a cross-control control valve for the RSU rocket engine. Also in the rear compartment of the equipment above the helium spherical tanks there are two spherical tanks with gaseous oxygen for the crew’s life support system. On a special remote panel of the rear compartment of the equipment, lunar module electronic equipment systems responsible for radio communications, on-board systems (alarm, warning) and on-board digital computers (BTsM) are attached, responsible for navigation. All systems are interconnected by multicore cables and wires passing over the entire surface of the main structure of the take-off stage of the lunar module. Power is supplied by two silver-zinc batteries.
To protect the main structure of the take-off stage of the lunar module and all the systems described above from the effects of outer space (temperature drops in vacuum, micrometeorites, the effects of jets of rocket engines), a thermal insulation coating and micrometeorite protection are applied, as well as a special thermal protective paint applied to the micrometeorite protection.
Thermal insulation coating is a multi-segment coating of special multilayer blankets, each segment of which is stretched to the frame of the main take-off stage structure. The fastening is carried out using special studs *, which are fastened either to special brackets or to the power set (to stringers and side members), providing a minimum clearance of 25.4 mm between the inside of the blanket and the outside of the shell of the cockpit and the central section, as well as truss surrounding the fuel tanks of the main propulsion system and the rear compartment of the equipment. Each blanket consists of a set of the following layers (if you count from the inside): one layer of aluminized kapton (a polyamide film developed by DuPont, 0.5 mm thick), ten layers of aluminized Mylar (a film based on synthetic polyester fiber developed by DuPont, the thickness of each layer is 0.15 mm), fifteen layers of aluminized Mylar (the thickness of each layer is 0.5 mm). The number of layers of blankets of thermal insulation coating may vary depending on the location of the segment. In the area of the impact of the liquid propellant rocket engine jets, an additional thermal insulation coating is applied on top of the above layers, consisting of one layer of nickel foil (thickness 0.5 mm), an inconel mesh, and an inconel coating 1.25 mm thick. Quilts are joined together overlapping and held using special brackets. Joints are sealed with adhesive tapes: fifteen layers of aluminized kapton (the thickness of each layer is 0.5 mm). The number of layers of blankets of thermal insulation coating may vary depending on the location of the segment. In the area of the impact of the liquid propellant rocket engine jets, an additional thermal insulation coating is applied on top of the above layers, consisting of one layer of nickel foil (thickness 0.5 mm), an inconel mesh, and an inconel coating 1.25 mm thick. Quilts are joined together overlapping and held using special brackets. Joints are sealed with adhesive tapes: fifteen layers of aluminized kapton (the thickness of each layer is 0.5 mm). The number of layers of blankets of thermal insulation coating may vary depending on the location of the segment. In the area of the impact of the liquid propellant rocket engine jets, an additional thermal insulation coating is applied on top of the above layers, consisting of one layer of nickel foil (thickness 0.5 mm), an inconel mesh, and an inconel coating 1.25 mm thick. Quilts are joined together overlapping and held using special brackets. Joints are sealed with adhesive tapes: nets of inconel and inconel coating 1.25 mm thick. Quilts are joined together overlapping and held using special brackets. Joints are sealed with adhesive tapes: nets of inconel and inconel coating 1.25 mm thick. Quilts are joined together overlapping and held using special brackets. Joints are sealed with adhesive tapes:
Installation diagram of the truss frame of the outer casing on the main structure of the take-off stage of the lunar module
Installation diagram of the thermal insulation coating on the main structure of the take-off stage of the lunar module
Micrometeorite protection is the outer shell of the take-off stage of the lunar module and consists of thin sheets of aluminum alloy up to 0.5 mm thick, installed top coating of insulation blankets:
scheme micrometeoric protection installation (outer shell) on the thermal insulation coating takeoff stage unnogo module
Its cutting by sectors is identical. The fastening is carried out using the same special studs, with which a thermal insulation coating is attached to the main structure of the takeoff stage of the lunar module. The studs above the blankets have a continuation, which provides a minimum clearance of 25.4 mm between them and the protection sheets. Joints between sheets are sealed with adhesive tape.
In order to avoid expansion of the thermal insulation coating and micrometeorite protection due to a sharp drop in ambient pressure while the launch vehicle is gaining altitude, windowed vents are made in blankets and sheets through which pressure is equalized.
In the area of the impacts of the rocket engine rocket engines, the micrometeorite protection is covered with a special black thermal protective paint (it covers most of the micrometeorite protection of the cockpit).
If you look at the numerous photographs of the take-off stage of the lunar module, then for the average person the impression is that the outer shell of thin sheets of aluminum, glued with adhesive tape in some places, is a sealed shell that is "easy to pierce with your foot", because it is "made of foil ". This error was clearly demonstrated by Yaroslav Golovanov in a book known to astronautics lovers.
PS: A detailed photo report (Walk Around, 57 photos of the take-off stage and 49 photos of the landing stage) for the lunar module LTA-1 can be seen here
© Sergey Vyatkin, 2014
* - studs provide equal clearance between the main structure of the take-off stage of the lunar module, thermal insulation coating and micrometeorite protection.
"R. Schweikart must be very careful. One wrong move and it will damage the lunar cabin. Its walls are so thin and fragile that a person can punch them with his foot, - said D. McDivitt before the start. “On Earth, the walls of the lunar cabin in many places can be damaged even by a randomly dropped screwdriver ...”
Another journalist, an equally popular popularizer of astronautics, Gubarev’s colleague, Yaroslav Kirillovich Golovanov, writes in the famous book “The Truth about the APOLLO Program” (practically copies the text of his colleague, adding his opinion, which is essentially the opinion of an amateur):
“- Schweikart must be very careful, McDivitt warned. “One wrong move, and it will damage the lunar module.” Its walls are so thin and fragile that a person can pierce them with his foot. On Earth, the walls of the lunar compartment can be damaged even by accidentally dropped screwdriver ...
For two weeks I examined the lunar cabin, which stood in the hall where the press was located during the flight of the Soyuz-19 and Apollo in Houston. The spider is made of metal foil. Not of the kind, of course, in which chocolates are wrapped, but still, if you choose from two definitions: a metal sheet or a metal foil, the foil is more accurate. In vacuum, the stiffness of this structure was increased due to internal inflation, but still it remained very subtle. ”( Source )
Take-off stage of the lunar module LM-12 of the Apollon-17 spacecraft. NASA Photo AS17-149-22857
The opinion of Yaroslav Golovanov about the structure “made of foil” and “increasing its rigidity in a vacuum” looks especially ridiculous when you look at the photos of the lunar module LTA-1, taken at the Cradle Of Aviation Museum, located in the city of East Garden City on Long Island, NY:
LTA-1 (Lunar Test Article 1) is the first instance of the lunar module (prototype), built in 1966, which is structurally similar to serial samples designed for space flight. Before LTA-1, Grumman Aerospace Corporation built only full-scale models of the lunar module (the so-called Mock-Up's: M-1, M-5, TM-1). Structurally, these mock-ups were made of metal and wood, intended for presentation to the customer (NASA), development of layout solutions for the placement of various auxiliary equipment and training of astronauts. But the power structure of the LTA-1, as well as all systems (propulsion systems, their ASG, electrical equipment, etc.) were made according to the working drawings in compliance with all technological processes. This instance was designed to refine the manufacturing process,
Docking the take-off and landing stages of the LTA-1 lunar module in the conductive electromagnetic interference test room at Grumman Aerospace Corporation, Betpage, Long Island, NY. NASA Photo S67-22164
The main structural difference between the LTA-1 and the serial samples flying into space is the front hatch, designed to exit and enter the crew from the take-off stage of the lunar module. On LTA-1 it is round in shape. Starting with LTA-8 and on all serial samples of the lunar module, at the request of astronauts, the hatch was made in a rectangular shape. The experiments carried out on board the NASA “flying laboratory” (a converted Boeing KC-135A Stratotanker tanker) experiments showed that astronauts found it much more convenient to squeeze in a spacesuit with a PLSS knapsack life-support system through a rectangular hatch in lunar gravity conditions. In 1974, after the Apollo program was completed, LTA-1 was deposited at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Aviation and Cosmonautics Museum in Washington, D.C.
The lunar module of the Apollo spacecraft structurally consists of two stages: landing and take-off. The landing stage is equipped with a liquid-propellant rocket engine (LRE) for the descent from the orbit of the artificial moon moon, landing approach and soft landing. Landing is carried out on a four-leg chassis with disk supports. Overload during landing is reduced by shortening the legs of the chassis, which are telescopic rods. Kinetic energy upon impact on the lunar surface is absorbed by the crumpled core material of an aluminum alloy. The crew, consisting of two astronauts (commander and co-pilot), is located in a sealed cockpit of the take-off stage, which is installed above the landing. The astronauts descend to the surface of the moon by stairs, fixed on one of the telescopic legs of the landing gear, located on the side of the front hatch. The take-off stage is equipped with a rocket engine for take-off from the surface (the landing stage serves as the launching pad at this stage) and to enter the orbit of the artificial moon satellite. Also, the take-off stage is equipped with a reactive control system (DCS). DCS is designed to control not only the take-off stage, but also the entire lunar module (when it is in the landing configuration) in six degrees of freedom. RDLs can operate in a group or separately - continuously or impulse. Since the take-off stage contained the crew, its design is of the greatest interest within the framework of the mass delusion under consideration. The take-off stage is equipped with a rocket engine for take-off from the surface (the landing stage serves as the launching pad at this stage) and to enter the orbit of the artificial moon satellite. Also, the take-off stage is equipped with a reactive control system (DCS). DCS is designed to control not only the take-off stage, but also the entire lunar module (when it is in the landing configuration) in six degrees of freedom. RDLs can operate in a group or separately - continuously or impulse. Since the take-off stage contained the crew, its design is of the greatest interest within the framework of the mass delusion under consideration. The take-off stage is equipped with a rocket engine for take-off from the surface (the landing stage serves as the launching pad at this stage) and to enter the orbit of the artificial moon satellite. Also, the take-off stage is equipped with a reactive control system (DCS). DCS is designed to control not only the take-off stage, but also the entire lunar module (when it is in the landing configuration) in six degrees of freedom. RDLs can operate in a group or separately - continuously or impulse. Since the take-off stage contained the crew, its design is of the greatest interest within the framework of the mass delusion under consideration. but also the entire lunar module (when it is in the landing configuration) in six degrees of freedom. RDLs can operate in a group or separately - continuously or impulse. Since the take-off stage contained the crew, its design is of the greatest interest within the framework of the mass delusion under consideration. but also the entire lunar module (when it is in the landing configuration) in six degrees of freedom. RDLs can operate in a group or separately - continuously or impulse. Since the take-off stage contained the crew, its design is of the greatest interest within the framework of the mass delusion under consideration.
The main structure of the take-off stage of the lunar module is a semi-monocoque structure made of well-welded duralumin alloy 2219 (the main alloying element is copper) and a high-strength deformable aluminum alloy 7075-T6 (the main alloying element is zinc), which have isotropic characteristics. The main structure consists of three main parts: the cockpit, the central section and the rear compartment of the equipment:
Only the crew cabin and the central section are sealed. These two parts are a welded and forged structure formed by a cylindrical shell and reinforced by circumferentially chained stringers formed of sheet duralumin, as well as transverse milled spars to which the structural elements of the take-off stage of the lunar module (beams, connecting brackets, etc.) are attached .). In the cylindrical part of the cockpit above the commander’s workstation, a docking port aperture reinforced along the perimeter was made. The front of the cockpit is formed by flat milled panels of sheet duralumin, also reinforced by stringers and side members on the bends. In front of the cockpit there are two triangular openings for the front view windows, reinforced around the perimeter,
According to technical reports on the lunar module ( NTRS archives), the wall thickness of the shell of the cockpit and the central section of the take-off stage of the lunar module reaches 0.065 inches (1.651 mm). This value is an order of magnitude greater than the thickness of the foil (in most countries, the generally accepted definition of foil is the sheet metal thickness of up to 0.2 mm), and is thicker than the casing of the supersonic passenger aircraft Tu-144 (1.2 mm) and Concorde (1.5 mm), which were operated in more severe conditions than the lunar module: aerodynamic heating during flights at high supersonic speeds in the stratosphere, cyclic stresses in a sealed fuselage structure due to constant pressure drops, aerodynamic effects (bending, twisting), etc. . Have been recorded in the operation of Tu-144 and Concorde cases "foot skin penetration."
In some places (unstressed), in order to reduce the weight of the structure, the wall thickness was reduced by chemical milling to 0.012 inches (0.3 mm).
A propulsion system is attached to the main structure of the take-off stage of the lunar module, consisting of two fuel tanks rigidly fixed in the central section of the Rocketdyne RS-18 take-off liquid propellant rocket engine (developed on the basis of the Bell 8247 engine): from the left side of the central section using supporting rod beams a spherical fuel tank was installed ("Aerosin-50"), on the starboard side of the central section a spherical oxidizer tank (nitrogen tetroxide) was similarly installed.
To the rear of the central section, as well as to the cockpit, brackets are attached through brackets that hold four DCS blocks with sixteen Marquardt R-4D rocket engines (four engines are grouped). Four cylindrical-shaped fuel tanks with hemispherical bottoms are located symmetrically on the port side and starboard sides of the central section. Fuel components are similar to those used in the main propulsion system. Between the tanks with fuel and oxidizer for the liquid propellant rocket engine on each side, spherical tanks with helium are installed for the displacement system of these engines. Two spherical tanks with water, as well as blocks of transmitting antennas, are attached to the upper part of the central section.
The propellant gas (helium) for the main propulsion system is also stored in spherical tanks. They are located in the rear compartment of the equipment along with two helium pressure reduction modules, a control valve for the main propulsion system (controls the supply of fuel components displaced by the boost pressure with helium to the RS-18 take-off rocket combustion chamber) and a cross-control control valve for the RSU rocket engine. Also in the rear compartment of the equipment above the helium spherical tanks there are two spherical tanks with gaseous oxygen for the crew’s life support system. On a special remote panel of the rear compartment of the equipment, lunar module electronic equipment systems responsible for radio communications, on-board systems (alarm, warning) and on-board digital computers (BTsM) are attached, responsible for navigation. All systems are interconnected by multicore cables and wires passing over the entire surface of the main structure of the take-off stage of the lunar module. Power is supplied by two silver-zinc batteries.
To protect the main structure of the take-off stage of the lunar module and all the systems described above from the effects of outer space (temperature drops in vacuum, micrometeorites, the effects of jets of rocket engines), a thermal insulation coating and micrometeorite protection are applied, as well as a special thermal protective paint applied to the micrometeorite protection.
Thermal insulation coating is a multi-segment coating of special multilayer blankets, each segment of which is stretched to the frame of the main take-off stage structure. The fastening is carried out using special studs *, which are fastened either to special brackets or to the power set (to stringers and side members), providing a minimum clearance of 25.4 mm between the inside of the blanket and the outside of the shell of the cockpit and the central section, as well as truss surrounding the fuel tanks of the main propulsion system and the rear compartment of the equipment. Each blanket consists of a set of the following layers (if you count from the inside): one layer of aluminized kapton (a polyamide film developed by DuPont, 0.5 mm thick), ten layers of aluminized Mylar (a film based on synthetic polyester fiber developed by DuPont, the thickness of each layer is 0.15 mm), fifteen layers of aluminized Mylar (the thickness of each layer is 0.5 mm). The number of layers of blankets of thermal insulation coating may vary depending on the location of the segment. In the area of the impact of the liquid propellant rocket engine jets, an additional thermal insulation coating is applied on top of the above layers, consisting of one layer of nickel foil (thickness 0.5 mm), an inconel mesh, and an inconel coating 1.25 mm thick. Quilts are joined together overlapping and held using special brackets. Joints are sealed with adhesive tapes: fifteen layers of aluminized kapton (the thickness of each layer is 0.5 mm). The number of layers of blankets of thermal insulation coating may vary depending on the location of the segment. In the area of the impact of the liquid propellant rocket engine jets, an additional thermal insulation coating is applied on top of the above layers, consisting of one layer of nickel foil (thickness 0.5 mm), an inconel mesh, and an inconel coating 1.25 mm thick. Quilts are joined together overlapping and held using special brackets. Joints are sealed with adhesive tapes: fifteen layers of aluminized kapton (the thickness of each layer is 0.5 mm). The number of layers of blankets of thermal insulation coating may vary depending on the location of the segment. In the area of the impact of the liquid propellant rocket engine jets, an additional thermal insulation coating is applied on top of the above layers, consisting of one layer of nickel foil (thickness 0.5 mm), an inconel mesh, and an inconel coating 1.25 mm thick. Quilts are joined together overlapping and held using special brackets. Joints are sealed with adhesive tapes: nets of inconel and inconel coating 1.25 mm thick. Quilts are joined together overlapping and held using special brackets. Joints are sealed with adhesive tapes: nets of inconel and inconel coating 1.25 mm thick. Quilts are joined together overlapping and held using special brackets. Joints are sealed with adhesive tapes:
Installation diagram of the truss frame of the outer casing on the main structure of the take-off stage of the lunar module
Installation diagram of the thermal insulation coating on the main structure of the take-off stage of the lunar module
Micrometeorite protection is the outer shell of the take-off stage of the lunar module and consists of thin sheets of aluminum alloy up to 0.5 mm thick, installed top coating of insulation blankets:
scheme micrometeoric protection installation (outer shell) on the thermal insulation coating takeoff stage unnogo module
Its cutting by sectors is identical. The fastening is carried out using the same special studs, with which a thermal insulation coating is attached to the main structure of the takeoff stage of the lunar module. The studs above the blankets have a continuation, which provides a minimum clearance of 25.4 mm between them and the protection sheets. Joints between sheets are sealed with adhesive tape.
In order to avoid expansion of the thermal insulation coating and micrometeorite protection due to a sharp drop in ambient pressure while the launch vehicle is gaining altitude, windowed vents are made in blankets and sheets through which pressure is equalized.
In the area of the impacts of the rocket engine rocket engines, the micrometeorite protection is covered with a special black thermal protective paint (it covers most of the micrometeorite protection of the cockpit).
If you look at the numerous photographs of the take-off stage of the lunar module, then for the average person the impression is that the outer shell of thin sheets of aluminum, glued with adhesive tape in some places, is a sealed shell that is "easy to pierce with your foot", because it is "made of foil ". This error was clearly demonstrated by Yaroslav Golovanov in a book known to astronautics lovers.
PS: A detailed photo report (Walk Around, 57 photos of the take-off stage and 49 photos of the landing stage) for the lunar module LTA-1 can be seen here
© Sergey Vyatkin, 2014
* - studs provide equal clearance between the main structure of the take-off stage of the lunar module, thermal insulation coating and micrometeorite protection.