Post by PeterB on Jul 11, 2006 21:10:55 GMT -4
freon said:
For the record, I've never said or implied any other mission than Apollo 16.*sticks hand up*
Ah, the hammer and feather experiment was on Apollo 15. :-)
I was just curious if the feather was 1. In the suit at all times - taken in and out of the pressurized cabin mulitiple times throughout the mission during the EVAs. What affect that would have had on its condition.
The experiment was done near the end of the third and last Moon walk. I think it's fairly likely the feather stayed in the LM until then, though I can't be sure. But if it stayed the whole time in the suit pocket, given that feathers aren't pressurised, I think that putting one in a vacuum repeatedly would have little effect on it.
2. If they observed what the solar radiation and surface temperature did to it, since bird feathers are organic, contain oils, keratin cells, etc. Did it last long?
I don't think the astronauts looked at it again after it was dropped. After all, remember that: 1. the experiment took place near the end of the Moon walk, so little time would have passed during which the feather could have changed, 2. the astronauts were busy loading the Lunar Module, so wouldn't have had the time to pay attention to the feather, 3. the purpose of having the feather in the first place was to observe the way it fell in a low gravity vacuum, not to observe the effect of the lunar environment on a feather, and 4. it would be possible to recreate the effects of the lunar environment on a feather in a lab on Earth, if anyone was interested.