h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

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Thanks A.M.

Good article - very comprehensive and informative. Only one minor pedantic quibble:

"The decision to utilise a pure oxygen atmosphere was not without significant consequences for the crews. It required them to pre-breath pure oxygen for some hours before launch. This was to remove the nitrogen content from their circulatory systems in order to prevent nitrogen narcosis, (bends) when the spacecraft's internal atmospheric pressure dropped as it gained altitude."

This isn't nitrogen narcosis, it's decompression illness (DCI, aka "the bends"). Narcosis is an effect of gases at increased, rather than decreased, pressure (though it's not limited to nitrogen and can happen with other gases too.) DCI is the result of decreases in pressure, and this is what the pre-breathing of oxygen prevents - like technical divers breathing oxygen-enriched gases (or even sometimes pure O2) at decompression stops, before surfacing.

HTH,

A scuba pedant.

Hi there and thanks for your comments

I bow to your knowledge. I really hadn't appreciated that there was a difference and can't now remember whether this was just something I took from elsewhere in good faith, or just made a wrong assumption.

Either way it's not something that I'd care to experience personally.

There is an interesting story recounted by Mike Collins, CMP of Apollo 11, where he tells of pains suffered in a knee while cooped up during his Gemini flight for several days, which he put down to this.

Anyway, thanks again. If I get the chance I'll make a correction if I can. All the best,
A.M.