The first life support system designed to support a cosmonaut was that flown on Yuri Gagarin’s Vostok spacecraft. But this wasn’t the first life support system to be flown in space. For years preceding Gagarin’s flight, animals had been sent into space. Before Gagarin’s flight, there was Laika, a mongrel pup, who flew into orbit on board Sputnik 2. Because of the claustrophobic confines of the Sputnik 2 capsule, the spacecraft’s crewmember could not be heavier than 7 kilograms. Ten dogs that met the weight requirements were selected, but Laika was judged the calmest and most photogenic!
As part of her training, Laika was taught to remain still in increasingly confined cages in the weeks leading up to the mission. Unfortunately, due to the Soviet government’s desire for a quick success, Laika’s life support system was not as rigorously tested as it should have been. She made it to space alive, but she didn’t have much time to enjoy her time in space. The thermal control system failed, resulting in Laika expiring from overheating after just 5 hours on orbit.
Before Laika, there were Tsygan and Dezikin, who flew suborbital flights. Other countries had also launched animals into space, including the French, who launched a cat by the name of Felicette, and the Americans, who launched a number of chimpanzees, the most famous being Ham. These animals were invaluable test subjects for the astronauts who eventually flew in Mercury and subsequent programs.
In these early programs, from Project Mercury to the Space Shuttle, life support systems were primarily open-loop, with few regenerable systems. But with the advent of the International Space Station (ISS), design drivers changed significantly. The ISS would require at least 20 years of continuous operation, which meant engineers had to try to develop ways of increasing the closure of the ISS life support system. How successful were they? Well, we’ll get to that in Chap. 5. In this chapter, we will focus on the evolution of life support systems (sticking with American systems to make this a little easier), starting with Project Mercury.
Evolution and Development of Life Support Systems
Life Support Systems for Humans in Space ; Chapter : 4 ; 101-150
2020-09-05
50 pages
Article/Chapter (Book)
Electronic Resource
English
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