Astronauts Didn't Sleep So Well on the Moon

Pete Conrad can sleep through just about anything that cat can honestly fall asleep at any point regardless of what's going on but his namesake Pete Conrad the commander of Apollo 12 had a bit of a harder time following the sleep on the moon in fact most of the moon Walker's have found it very difficult to get solid shut-eye in the lunar modules [Music] NASA knew right off the bat that astronauts would be sleeping on the moon the shortest duration landed mission was Apollo 11 and the crew was on the moon for a little under a day just about 22 hours which meant that there would be a rest period during the lunar stay and of course looking forward NASA knew that the longer missions the Jay missions would be extended stays on the moon for multiple days meaning multiple rest periods and so it had to address the issue of astronauts sleeping in the lunar module from the get-go but it was a little bit easier said than done for most of us when we think about getting good night's sleep we probably imagine a big comfy bed with nice warm blankets and ideally a soft kitten curled up right next to your face but that wasn't exactly the luxury that the astronauts had on board the lunar module the lunar module was built expressly as a single-use vehicle to land astronauts on the moon it had no application beyond landing on the moon with the Apollo architecture of course it was used as a lifeboat for Apollo 13 but that's a separate story of all the considerations that led to the lunar modules eventual shape weight was one of the primary concerns in the name of keeping the lunar modules weight as low as possible there were bundles of wires that weren't behind panels because the panel's added weight as we know there were no seats the astronauts flew it standing up so they could see out the smaller windows because the glass that having less glass saved weight and it was also tiny it was designed to keep two men alive for about two days with all of their gear and the rocks that they would eventually bring back from the surface it wasn't a roomy vehicle so all that being said comfort was not exactly the primary design characteristic when it came to building and constructing the inside of the lunar module on the very first mission armstrong and aldrin were left to find a very comfy little bit of floor to sleep in when they had their one rest period on the moon but to make matters worse not only could neither man actually stretch out the length of the cabin they also didn't take off their suits NASA was concerned that the lunar regolith that they'd tracked in when they've gone back inside after their EBA might get into their lungs both of them found it quite difficult to get comfortable Armstrong ended up sleeping on top of the lunar module asset staged cover with one foot wedged under the disky and his head kind of raised up on a little bit of wall while Aldrin was sort of fetal like curled up on a little bit of exposed floor the cabin was also fairly loud all the systems the life support environmental control obviously had to be running through the night so if a system turned on line all of a sudden it would be a new noise that would wake them up light was another issue there were shades on the windows but sunlight was able to get through not to mention the dials and the switches many of them were lit up throughout the night neither man said they slept very well that one night on the moon which is a little bit dicey when you consider that their next day's activity was rendezvous in with Collins in the command module but as we know they pulled it off brilliantly going forward from Apollo 11 NASA sent astronauts up with beta cloth hammocks they had to be stocked one over the other in a crisscross section it was the only way that you could fit and even still for some of the taller astronauts it wasn't the best fit they had a foot hanging over the edge or their head kind of hitting the top of the hammock light remained an issue for all the astronauts on later flights in terms of seeping through the window as did the ambient noise of the water system turning on and the various environmental control systems running through the night but with every mission NASA learned ways to help the astronauts get more rest on the moon unlaid our missions astronauts were allowed to take off their pressure suits while they slept which made them a lot more comfortable sometimes they kept the liquid cooled garment on and sometimes they put on a later flight suit earplugs were found to be a pretty good defense against the cabin noise and also sleeping pills NASA knew the astronauts had to be rested no matter what it took if they were gonna get a good day's work out of them on the moon another challenge when it came to sleeping on the moon adrenalin many of the astronauts said they had a bit of a hard time sleeping on the moon because they were so excited about being there if you want more details like who was up all night and who had to take a sleeping pill on the moon I've gone through a mission by mission in my companion blog post over on discover the link is in the description below so definitely check that out if you want to know a little bit more about how sleeping was on the moon I also want to remind you guys that I have a new feature on vintage space and that is sponsorships I am now able to take sponsors any of you guys who follow me on social media know that I have about seven jobs so if you help sponsor a vintage space you're making sure that this channel will never fall by the wayside as I get increasingly busy I've got more information on how it works how it works with patreon and the perks that you guys get when you become sponsors of vintage space up in this video right up here as always you guys what do you want to see in future episodes leave me your thoughts comments concerns I guess and anything else that's on your mind in the comment section below of course be sure to follow me on Twitter and Instagram 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Channel: The Vintage Space

Views: 1,084,691

Keywords: Moon, Apollo, NASA, History, Sleep

Id: _f136GwleMc

Length: 5min 30sec (330 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 17 2017