We are moving at a snail's pace through Tau Zero because the purpose is to savor it. Would everyone have understood if this post had just been called EVA? Van Rijn, Flandry, characters in Twilight World and Tau Zero and probably others go EVA. Is Anderson's account in Tau Zero based on astronauts' experience? It was probably written too early for that.
First, he makes the point that seeing would be difficult:
"Lighting was poor: unshielded glare in the sun, ink blackness in shadow..." (p. 33)
The last thing that we should imagine is ordinary Terrestrial daylight.
Secondly:
"Hearing was no better..." (ibid.)
Each astronaut hears his own breath and blood beat in his spacesuit and also "...the cosmic seething in radio earplugs." (ibid.) We have begun to collect descriptions of the sound of space.
Thirdly, sweat, vapor, carbon dioxide etc accumulate while men labor to adjust and rearrange external equipment.
Fourthly, spin nauseates when feet lose their grip and a man floats off to the end of his lifeline.
Fifthly, maneuvering massive modules, as hard both to move and to stop, is difficult and dangerous.
Unpleasant working conditions.
4 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
And Space Folk with common hopes, aspirations, goals, etc., will accept such difficult working conditions in order to achieve their hopes.
Sean
I wonder why they couldn't piut in a filter to eliminate the cosmic white noise?
Here's more about spacesuits than you'd probably ever want to know: http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/spacesuits.php
Keith
Kaor, Keith!
I have wondered why those big, bulky, awkward, NASA style spacesuits are still being used? Surely we can do better now? Long ago, I read an article by Jerry Pournelle in which he discussed how space suits could be drastically improved.
Sean
Thank you, Sean. A possible answer: $.
Keith
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