Pressure perils
Stories from Physics
for 11-14
14-16
In 1967, an accident occurred in a vacuum chamber at NASA’s Johnson Space Centre. An engineer, Jim LeBlanc, was working in an environment that simulated pressures at an altitude of 46 km when his oxygen line disconnected. The pressure in LeBlanc’s suit fell from 26 kPa to 0.7 kPa in under 10 seconds exposing him to a near vacuum. The engineer reported that his last memory before losing consciousness was the saliva evaporating from his tongue. LeBlanc was rescued by two colleagues and made a full recovery.
References
Pressure Perils
T. Jones, Sky Walking: An Astronaut’s Memoir, New York, NY, HarperCollins Publishers, 2006, pp.228-230
Two MSC Employees Commended For Rescue in Chamber Emergency, Roundup, NASA Manned Spacecraft Centre, Houston Texas, 6th January 1967, Houston, Tx, p. 3, https://historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov/JSCHistoryPortal/history/roundups/issues/67-01-06.pdf
