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Author
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Topic: Space shuttle ejection seats: escape panels
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Merkaw
Member Posts: 30
From: Denmark
Registered: Aug 2014
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posted 07-04-2015 01:02 AM
  
Any one have photos of the inside roof of the shuttle when it was fitted with ejection seats? I wonder where in the roof the ejection seat would break through.
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Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 07-04-2015 01:14 AM
Here is a NASA diagram showing the location of the ejection escape panels above the commander and pilot stations on the flight deck:  And here you can see (click to enlarge) the panels on a crew compartment trainer at Johnson Space Center:  |
nasamad
Member Posts: 2121
From: Essex, UK
Registered: Jul 2001
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posted 07-04-2015 02:27 AM
What is the purpose of the external T handle? Given the size of an orbiter, even if it was on the ground after landing, no one would be able to reach up to turn it without a ladder? |
David C
Member Posts: 1015
From: Lausanne
Registered: Apr 2012
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posted 07-04-2015 07:09 AM
They would if it landed wheels up, or the gear had collapsed. It's an emergency thing. |
Merkaw
Member Posts: 30
From: Denmark
Registered: Aug 2014
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posted 07-04-2015 12:32 PM
Thanks a lot. Spent the day going through NASA online archives. In the KSC media archive there's a great photo of Columbia's top showing the ejection escape panel warnings. Same place there's a photo from the cockpit. As suspected the ejection escape panels would have to pull some overhead switch panels out before the seats could eject. |
nasamad
Member Posts: 2121
From: Essex, UK
Registered: Jul 2001
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posted 07-04-2015 12:43 PM
quote:
Originally posted by David C:
They would if it landed wheels up, or the gear had collapsed.
Good thinking David, never crossed my mind. I suppose if it was a belly landing there is a chance of a hydrazine leak or some other noxious substance from the front RCS. Still, I'd rather the crew pulled their handle than be suited up to turn the T myself! |
Lunar Module 5
Member Posts: 370
From: Wales, UK
Registered: Dec 2004
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posted 07-05-2015 02:41 PM
When the Columbia went through a refit were these panels removed? If so, when? |
Tom
Member Posts: 1597
From: New York
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted 07-05-2015 04:53 PM
According to this, looks like panels were removed prior to STS-61C in 1986. |
Hart Sastrowardoyo
Member Posts: 3445
From: Toms River, NJ
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 07-06-2015 08:54 PM
Wouldn't that have entailed disassembly of Columbia's nose section and splitting the crew module in half, putting on a new 'top' on, then reintegrating it into the orbiter? Seems like a lot of time and expense. |
OV-105
Member Posts: 816
From: Ridgecrest, CA
Registered: Sep 2000
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posted 07-07-2015 02:56 PM
I would think that the panels were still there but the charges for them were removed during the time it was at Palmdale between STS-9 and 61-C when the ejection seats were removed. Then, during the down time after 51-L, the tiles from the side and top were removed and replaced with the blankets so the markings on the top would be gone then. |
Hart Sastrowardoyo
Member Posts: 3445
From: Toms River, NJ
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 07-07-2015 05:35 PM
Were the ejection seat rails still in place post STS-9 or post-51L? |
p51
Member Posts: 1642
From: Olympia, WA
Registered: Sep 2011
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posted 07-07-2015 05:58 PM
I noticed an ejection-type lever on top of the C1 panel (center console) in the cockpit of the space shuttle full fuselage trainer that had been in Houston. Was that to jettison those panels in the event of escape out the top of the orbiter?It's pretty much in the center of this photo:  The sad part is that on the two tours I've had in the FFT since it was placed in Seattle, neither of the guides inside were aware that the Columbia ever had ejection seats. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 07-07-2015 06:12 PM
I believe that is the T-handle for jettisoning the left overhead window for emergency egress after landing.The full fuselage trainer was used for egress training until the end of the program. |
OV-105
Member Posts: 816
From: Ridgecrest, CA
Registered: Sep 2000
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posted 07-08-2015 02:25 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Hart Sastrowardoyo:
Were the ejection seat rails still in place post STS-9 or post-51L?
In early 1984, Columbia was sent back to Palmdale to be brought up to the "operational standards" and have the test flight equipment removed. They also added the Orbiter Experiments items to Columbia at that time. For STS-5 and STS-9 the ejection seats were still in place but inactive. So for STS-5, there were three on the flight deck for launch and landing and one on the mid deck. And for STS-9 it was three up and three down for launch and landing. 61-C was the first flight of Columbia with the "operational" flight and mid decks like the other three orbiters. |
Hart Sastrowardoyo
Member Posts: 3445
From: Toms River, NJ
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 07-08-2015 09:29 AM
So for 61C to have carried four crew on the flight deck that must mean the ejection seat rails would have been removed... or they stuck in a folding chair and told either Pinky or Hawley, "Here, sit."  |
OV-105
Member Posts: 816
From: Ridgecrest, CA
Registered: Sep 2000
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posted 07-08-2015 10:48 AM
Well the MS/PS seats were basicly folding chairs stuck to the floor anyway. |
dabolton
Member Posts: 419
From: Seneca, IL, US
Registered: Jan 2009
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posted 07-09-2015 11:07 AM
What became of those ejection seats. Are they in a museum anywhere? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 07-09-2015 11:28 AM
Dennis Jenkins, in "Dressing for Altitude," cites an email with Thomas W. Bowen, 9th PSPTS/CD at Beale AFB from Feb. 17, 2010: NASA removed the USAF hardware from the remainder of the suits and they were subsequently scrapped, as were the ejection seats. |
Lou Chinal
Member Posts: 1306
From: Staten Island, NY
Registered: Jun 2007
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posted 07-31-2015 10:51 AM
Joe Schmitt, the suit technician from Mercury, Gemini and Apollo, retired after STS-4. |
JBoe
Member Posts: 960
From: Churchton, MD
Registered: Oct 2012
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posted 08-15-2015 02:44 PM
Here are photos of Endeavour on display at the California Science Center. The fourth photo shows the T-handle for overhead rescue. |
Cozmosis22
Member Posts: 968
From: Texas * Earth
Registered: Apr 2011
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posted 08-16-2015 11:11 AM
This is the old full-scale shuttle mockup Ambassador with emergency rescue markings as seen at the KSC Visitor Center back in 1992. |
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