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| Apollo Extravehicular Activity | |
|---|---|
| Name | Apollo Extravehicular Activity |
| Caption | Astronaut during lunar surface EVA, 1969 |
| Country | United States |
| Program | Apollo program |
| First | Apollo 9 |
| Firstdate | 1969-03-03 |
| Last | Apollo 17 |
| Lastdate | 1972-12-13 |
| Types | Lunar EVA, deep-space EVA, spacecraft maintenance EVA |
Apollo Extravehicular Activity Apollo extravehicular activity encompassed spacewalks conducted during the Apollo program including lunar surface moonwalks, deep-space excursions, and spacecraft maintenance EVAs performed by astronauts from NASA aboard Apollo command and lunar modules. These EVAs involved personnel such as Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins, Pete Conrad, Alan Bean, Jim Lovell, and Eugene Cernan, supported by organizations including the Manned Spacecraft Center and contractors like North American Aviation and Grumman. The operations integrated hardware from programs and projects including the Extravehicular Mobility Unit, Portable Life Support System, and the Lunar Module, and were influenced by institutions such as Smithsonian Institution museums and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Apollo EVAs were executed across missions Apollo 7, Apollo 8, Apollo 9, Apollo 10, Apollo 11, Apollo 12, Apollo 13, Apollo 14, Apollo 15, Apollo 16, and Apollo 17, with the first crewed EVA in low Earth orbit on Apollo 9 and the first lunar EVA on Apollo 11. Tasks ranged from extravehicular inspections tied to Saturn V launch anomalies to lunar geology fieldwork informed by the Lunar Receiving Laboratory and telemetry routed through the Manned Space Flight Network. EVAs drew on prior practice from Gemini program spacewalks and lessons from Mercury program missions, while influencing later programs such as Space Shuttle operations and the International Space Station.
Apollo EVAs used the A7L spacesuit and variants of the Extravehicular Mobility Unit built under contracts with ILC Dover and Hamilton Standard. The Portable Life Support System (PLSS) supplied oxygen, cooling, and communications developed by NASA Ames Research Center and tested at facilities like White Sands Test Facility and Marshall Space Flight Center. Integration required interfaces with the Command Module and Lunar Module hatches designed by North American Aviation and Grumman Aerospace Corporation, and incorporated materials researched at Ames Research Center and Lewis Research Center. Suit telemetry linked to ground consoles in the Mission Control Center at Johnson Space Center and to biomedical teams at Houston Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
Standard procedures included pre-breathing protocols derived from decompression studies at University of Houston and emergency ingress rehearsals practiced with mockups at MSC Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory and Ellington Field. Crew tasks involved sample collection cataloging for curation at the Smithsonian Institution, deployment of experiments like the ALSEP packages developed by University of California, Berkeley and California Institute of Technology, and emplacement of instruments coordinated with the Lunar Receiving Laboratory and the National Academy of Sciences. Operations also required translation of mission rules from the Flight Rules repository maintained by NASA and coordination with recovery forces from units like the United States Marine Corps and US Navy.
Apollo 11 moonwalks by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin established initial surface procedures and deployed the Passive Seismic Experiment. Apollo 12 EVAs by Pete Conrad and Alan Bean retrieved parts of the Surveyor 3 probe, illustrating rendezvous between robotic missions designed by Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Apollo 13 featured in-space contingency EVA and maintenance planning relevant to the Apollo 13 accident response by Gene Kranz and flight controllers at Mission Control Center. Apollo 15 EVAs introduced the Lunar Roving Vehicle driven by David Scott and James Irwin and accompanied deployment of the ALSEP geophysics package. Apollo 16 EVAs led by John Young and Charlie Duke emphasized trenching experiments inspired by research from Carnegie Institution for Science. Apollo 17, with Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt, combined geological fieldwork informed by Caltech and sample caching destined for curation at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
Risks included suit punctures, as studied after micrometeoroid concerns raised by Vanguard program observations, cabin depressurization incidents like those simulated after Apollo 1 fire investigations led by United States Senate Committee inquiries, and contamination control coordinated with the Lunar Receiving Laboratory. EVAs adapted procedures following the Apollo 13 oxygen tank explosion and the subsequent use of the Lunar Module as a lifeboat, with leadership from Gene Kranz and action by contractors including Rockwell International. Medical risks were addressed with expertise from National Institutes of Health collaborators and telemetry protocols informed by Wyle Laboratories biomedical monitoring.
Astronauts trained in neutral buoyancy at the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory and in analog field geology with scientists from United States Geological Survey and Carnegie Institution for Science, while flight simulations were run in simulators at Manned Spacecraft Center and test stands at Marshall Space Flight Center. Training incorporated lessons from the Gemini program EVA pioneers like Ed White and utilized full-scale mockups at sites including Johnson Space Center facilities and the Lunar Roving Vehicle test site at Holloman Air Force Base.
Apollo EVAs yielded over 380 kilograms of lunar samples that transformed research at institutions such as Smithsonian Institution, Caltech, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Brown University, and Harvard University, informing theories of lunar origin tied to the Giant-impact hypothesis evaluated by researchers at MIT and University of Arizona. Geophysical data from ALSEP instruments influenced models at Jet Propulsion Laboratory and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, while EVA-derived hardware lessons shaped design choices for Space Shuttle suits and the International Space Station extravehicular systems developed by Boeing and Soviet Union counterparts during cooperative exchanges such as the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project.