[AR] Re: body mass and size of Apollo astronauts
- From: James Padfield <james.padfield@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 10 Oct 2013 15:52:31 +0100
> > The second question I get was about the body size. Smaller astronauts
> > mean smaller capsules. I know the size limitation for Russian cosmonauts.
> > So, does anybody have a document with the body size and mass of the
> > Apollo astronauts?
>
> I'm sure the data can be found, but I don't have it on hand. There was a
> height limit for Apollo, to avoid having to design the hardware to
> accommodate exceptionally tall people, but it wasn't severe: 6 feet.
> There was no attempt to deliberately pick small people to permit smaller
> capsules. (The Mercury capsule was decidedly cramped, and so the height
> limit for Mercury astronauts was tighter, but that was a result of small
> rockets and a short-term program with limited objectives.)
>
>
I seem to remember an anecdote (it was possibly either from "Moondust" by
Andrew Smith, or "A Man on the Moon" by Andrew Chaikin - both very good
books BTW) that talked about one of the astronauts (possibly Rusty
Schweickart but I'm not sure on that) jumping up and down on the spot for
several hours the night before his medical, to attempt to compress his
spine so that he'd be shorter in the morning, in order to make it in under
the six foot limit....
(Thinking about it, it may have been in "The Right Stuff" by Tom Wolfe).
James.
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