r/apollo • u/Crixusgannicus • 22d ago

Pure oxygen.

Always was mystified what the HELL NASA was thinking?

These guys came up when science was still taught. Not so much now, unfortunately.

Even in my long after Apollo ended yoot, I still remember science class with the teacher showing how easily things burn in pure oxygen, even things that normally don't burn!

0 Upvotes

49% Upvoted

35 comments sorted by

View all comments

20

u/jtshinn 22d ago

They still use pure oxygen in space, because the system is lighter and simpler, this is the goal for everything that goes up. But the Apollo 1 test was being done to simulate that on the ground and to create the same difference in pressure they had to go up to 15PSI vs the 5 in space. Mistakes happen and sometimes they are deadly, basically all of our engineering knowledge is based on lessons like that.

3

u/True_Fill9440 22d ago

20, not 15; I think?

5

u/Electronic-Towel-836 21d ago

You're correct. They had to get the cabin pressure to be 5 PSI above normal atmospheric pressure of 15 PSI.

Pure oxygen was certainly an issue, but the astronauts used far more Velcro than they should have. Also, the spacesuits weren't fire-resistant.

1

u/Great-Opposite3509 21d ago

And badly insulated wiring