From: Richard Riley
Date: 5/27/2004 10:21 PM Central Daylight Time
Message-id:

On 28 May 2004 03:11:03 GMT, (Regnirps) wrote:

(Wright1902Glider) wrote:
:
:Um,
:
:What happens to the gas bag once it makes orbit? Am I correct in assuming
:that
:there will be a serious pressure differential between the interior and
:exterior
:of the bag? I'm thinking "World's Largest Baloon Goes POP!" ?????
:
:Ask yourself, what is the difference between almost a vacuum and a vacuum?
Not
:much. If it will hold 16 lbs/sq in, that is about all you need. Things like
eople only blow up in vacuum in fiction. If they did, then immagine what
would
:happen to a SCUBA diver as they come up through three atmospheres of
pressure
:change!

If it's filled with pure O2, 3 or 4 psi will do it, that's what Apollo
used.

Not that I believe the rest of it, mind you.
The low pressure in the Apollo spacecraft had more to do with the space suits
than structural integrity of the spacecraft. Space suits lose flexibility as
inside to outside presure ratio increases. They kept the pressure in the
spacecraft low to avoid having to slowly decompress before landing on the moon.
I believe the shuttle does it for the same reason.

An amusing aside: when White did his space walk from a Gemini his suit swelled
to the point he couldn't get back in until they bled off pressure.

Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired