why no fried astronauts?

Question

why were the apollo astronauts not fried in that tin can by solar radiation- they didn't have anything to protect them from it (except a couple of inchs of metal)?

Answer 1

Before there was a space program, there was Man High. This involved a gondola beneath a helium filled set of weather balloons that lifted a researcher almost twenty miles up. He was effectively in space, because over 99 percent of the atmosphere was beneath him. This was one of the things they had to do to determine whether cosmic rays (yeah, the same thing that supposedly mutated the Fantastic Four) would kill a man.

Measuring solar activity and scheduling launches only for the times when the Sun is 'quiet' and not spitting out too much radiation, is part of what determines the acceptable launch 'window'.

The space ships ARE made containing SOME radiation shielding. Any kind of mass will absorb radiation; and if a solar flare takes place, the astronauts orient the ship so that the bulk of the mass (like the engines and the re-entry fuel) is between them and the Sun.

Finally, the astronauts are not stupid, and they have made deposits in sperm banks so that they can have kids that are not mutated. They probably get as much stray radiation during a three day mission as an x-ray technician gets during six months on the job. For that matter, anybody who flies commercially is getting a proportionately larger dose of solar and cosmic rays.

Answer 2

The Apollo astronauts were protected by their capsule even though in places it was only micron thick. This is because the sort of radiation the astronauts encountered was not the sort that could penetrate the spacecraft. If however there had been a solar flare at the time that would have been a different matter. They would have had to manouvre their spacecraft so that the bulkiest end was facing the incoming radiation front.

If you were wondering how they could be protected by mylar insulation just microns thick then just think about your microwave oven at home. You are protected from the raditation from glass and gauze and although this is different from cosmic radiation the principle is the same.

The sort of radiation the astronauts would receive wouldn't have been much more than a few plane flights or a couple of dental x-rays.

As for the Van Allen belts which conspiricy theorist keep going on about, the astronauts only spent hours at the most travelling through them. You would have to spend months in them to cause any harm.

Answer 3

Well, a lot of radiation from the sun is alpha particles, which *can* be stopped by a couple of inches of metal. The capsule was designed to protect from normal radiation levels. If a major solar flare had taken place during the mission, the astronauts would have been out of luck.

As for sunlight, they normally put the capsule into a slow roll, so that one side wouldn't get baked constantly.

The astronauts knew the risks when they signed up ... and fortunately, their luck held out.

Answer 4

This just shows how little you know about radiation.
A couple of inches of metal CAN stop radiation but that's not all they had. Apollo was a sophisticated piece of machinery not ,as you so elegantly put it, a 'tin can'. If a solar flair had gone off THEN they would have fried.

Learn about alpha, gamma and beta radiation.

Answer 5

Exactly Mr Serious....no one could survive the radiation out there and be alive some 30 years after

Answer 6

I thought mass would absorb radiation so why couldn't a few inches of metal.

Answer 7

Meh

Answer 8

They're not safely back on Earth yet ... there's plenty of time for fried austronauts still ...

Answer 9

They do them in Scottish Chipshops. They'll fry anything up there.

Answer 10

Meh.