From: rick.jones2@hp.com   
      
   >> > If there was an emergency in space and you had to wear your space   
   >> > suit for a week, where would all the shit and piss go? What if   
   >> > you puked in your space suite?   
      
   >> 1) They don't have a week's air supply   
      
   > They don't have to when they're attached to the ship's air supply.   
      
   Unless of course the emergency happened to involve the ship's air   
   supply... but then we come-back to the question of duration of   
   consumables in a completely independent-of-the-ship spacesuit.   
      
   > Apollo suits had umbilicals for this purpose.  The only time they   
   > used the portable life support system (i.e. the backpacks) was for   
   > lunar EVA's.  All other Apollo EVA's, including Skylab, used   
   > umbilicals.  Most (all?) Gemini EVA's didn't use backpacks either,   
   > except for the Gemini EVA which was to include testing of a manned   
   > maneuvering unit (which was cancelled due to overheating of the   
   > astronaut during EVA).   
      
   So, why were umbillicals dropped for ISS EVA's?  Doesn't that tether   
   get rather in the way?   
      
   >> 3) They don't have much of a water supply for the astronaut   
   >> (shuttle EMU suits offer 21 and 32-ounce water bags), and no food   
   >> supply.   
      
   > I'd imagine that the suits used in the CEV will need umbilical   
   > attachments to handle just such a contingency.  It would be easy   
   > enough to provide a drinking water supply through the umbilical.   
   > Since you've got air and cooling water connections anyway, what's   
   > one more connection?   
      
   Straws and the backs of camels come to mind :) Or perhaps angels   
   dancing on the head of a pin :)   
      
   I would think that a space suit which relied on a tether would make it   
   somewhat difficult to go from one spaceship to another - say the   
   rescue ship if such a thing existed.  One might dock I suppose, or go   
   the path of "Iron Man One" or somesuch, but a tether-less suit seems   
   to be more "flexible" - modulo the issue of consumables.   
      
   rick jones   
   --   
   The glass is neither half-empty nor half-full. The glass has a leak.   
   The real question is "Can it be patched?"   
   these opinions are mine, all mine; HP might not want them anyway... :)   
   feel free to post, OR email to rick.jones2 in hp.com but NOT BOTH...   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)