Technical Paper
Space Station Freedom Airlock/Extravehicular Activity Operations
1990-07-01
901396
The Space Station Freedom Airlock is a pressurized flight element slated for launch in mid-1997. The Airlock plays an integral part in space station procedures and is responsible for providing the resources and equipment for a variety of unique operations. These operations include nominal extravehicular activity (EVA) egress and ingress, pre-breathe procedures, suit servicing, large Orbital Replacement Unit (ORU) pass-through operations, hyperbaric treatments and routine airlock maintenance. Not only are some of these scenarios quite complex, but they also require the Airlock to operate at a wide range of internal pressures and temperatures. This paper discusses the general airlock configuration, and in more detail, the various operational scenarios and their impact on the airlock design. The Airlock is composed of two chambers: the equipment lock (EL) and the crewlock (CL).