From the First Apollo Space Walk

On Apollo 9, Lunar Module Pilot Rusty Schweickart performed the first EVA (extravehicular activity) for Apollo, as he opened the hatch to watch the Earth stream by on the first untethered space walk, and went on to fly the lunar module for the first time, a spacecraft that on its own is incapable of returning to Earth.

This nameplate was just below the NASA insignia on his Rusty’s PLSS (Personal Life Support System backpack), the first and only PLSS to be space-tested before the lunar landing.

I first met Rusty when he was CEO of Aloha Networks, a DFJ investment in TCP/IP services via satellite. We then reconnected with the B612 Foundation, which Rusty founded to help defend the Earth from asteroids.

Signature on the back: ”Flown on Apollo 9 / Cut from my PLSS / Rusty Schweickart”. The 4.25” x 1” patch is made of Beta cloth, a fabric fireproof up to 650 degrees Celsius used in Apollo spacesuits after the fatal 1967 Apollo 1 fire. The portable life support system (PLSS) is the backpack of the spacesuit, providing essentially the same functions as the spacecraft life support system in a smaller, wearable package. The March 1969 Apollo 9 mission tested several aspects critical to landing on the moon, including the lunar module engines, backpack life support systems, navigation systems and docking maneuvers.

4 responses to “From the First Apollo Space Walk”

jurvetson

Jan 25, 2013 at 5:28 am

Luckily, I also have a PLSS at the office, and can reunite the "crewman nameplate"

Last year, I hiked Meteor Crater with Rusty, the very place he trained for Apollo, and a reminder of the need for B612 (and some photos of Rusty Memories):

Coincidentally, I recently recovered a bunch of floppy disc files from 1989, back when I was finishing my MSEE. I had an inspirational folder of "Space Pictures", and of the 18 photos on my primitive computer back then, one was of Rusty’s EVA:

And here’s a cool description by Rusty of his thoughts and emotions while circling the Earth, a short film by David Hoffman (or jump to EVA).

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js.brain

Jan 26, 2013 at 2:58 am

Such a great mission to be able to be a part of a group to help defend the Earth from asteroids.
Very special backpack.

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jurvetson

May 27, 2013 at 9:38 pm

and I just acquired a cool photo of Rusty out on the porch… with the LM and Earth reflected in his visor, and the PLSS on his back:

Happy Memorial Day!

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jurvetson

Mar 7, 2014 at 1:56 am

Happy 45th anniversary of that first EVA!!!
From B612

“From the moon, the Earth is so small and so fragile, and such a precious little spot in that Universe, that you can block it out with your thumb. Then you realize that on that spot, that little blue and white thing, is everything that means anything to you — all of history and music and poetry and art and death and birth and love, tears, joy, games, all of it right there on that little spot that you can cover with your thumb. And you realize from that perspective that you’ve changed forever, that there is something new there, that the relationship is no longer what it was.” — Rusty Schweickart

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From the First Apollo Space Walk

4 responses to “From the First Apollo Space Walk”

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