By Philip R. Devlin.
The former Hamilton Standard Corporation, built in my hometown of Windsor Locks in 1952 on the site of the old base hospital at Bradley Field, supplied American astronauts with close to 550 hours of life support on nine Apollo missions which concluded with the Apollo 17 flight on December 19, 1972. Since 1969, the life support backpack and Lunar Module spacecraft’s environmental control system, both developed and built by Hamilton Standard in Windsor Locks, performed the crucial job of providing an earth-like environment for 18 astronauts in space and on the moon. Both systems functioned flawlessly. On six lunar landings, the life support pack operated a total of 137 hours, 57 minutes during the 28 extravehicular activities (EVAs) in which 12 astronauts set up experiments and explored the moon.
In its first test in space on March 6, 1969, the life support pack also sustained the life of Astronaut Russell L. Schweickart in a 38-minute spacewalk during the earth orbital Apollo 9 flight. The environmental control system for the LM moon-landing spacecraft logged 410 hours, 40 minutes in total life-support time on nine flights that began with Apollo 9 in 1969 and ended with Apollo 17 in 1972. This number includes the 84.5 hours on Apollo 13 in 1970 when the equipment played a key role in the safe return of Astronauts James Lovell, Fred Haise, and John Swigert, after an emergency aborted what was then the third attempt to land men on the moon—an incident made famous in the 1995 movie, “Apollo 13.” At the time the Hamilton Standard system was designed to handle the life support needs of two men for 49 hours; in fact, it handled the life support needs of three men for 84.5 hours!
In the Apollo 17 mission, astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison H. Schmitt used their life support packs for a combined 22 hours, 5 minutes in the three EVAs conducted by each man. The LM’s environmental equipment provided 59 hours 55 minutes of life support in lunar orbit and on the moon. Like the backpack, the LM equipment underwent its first test in space on the Apollo 9 flight, March 3-13, 1969. It supplied 23 hours, 53 minutes of life support for James McDivitt and Schweickart
On the historic first landing on the moon on July 20, 1969, Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, each used their life support packs for two hours 40 minutes; Hamilton Standard’s LM environmental control operated flawlessly for 33 hours during the spacecraft’s flight around the moon and during its stay on the lunar surface.
Hamilton Standard of Windsor Locks, is now known as UTC Aerospace Systems after two mergers within the last 20 years. The life support backpack was developed for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration; the LM environmental control system was built for Grumman Aerospace Corporation, the prime contractor to NASA for the moon-landing spacecraft.
(Note: Both photos are in the public domain. The photo of Armstrong on the moon is a great shot of the life support backpack built by Hamilton Standard.)
