Technical Paper
Space Station Freedom Airlock Depress/Repress System Design and Performance
1992-07-01
921378
This paper will discuss the airlock depress/repress (D/R) system under design by McDonnell Douglas Space Systems Company as part of the Work Package 2 (WP-02) portion of the NASA Space Station Freedom (SSF) program. Requirements for the airlock to support 52 extravehicular activities (EVA) per year have driven several design features which make this system unique from any used on Orbiter, Skylab, or Mir. Use of the airlock to support 52 EVAs per year is a part of the program's overall attempt to make life and work in space a routine endeavor. As a result of this goal, system design must minimize time and resources required to support EVA while maximizing system maintainability, safety, reliability, and usability. Requirements aimed at realizing this design goal are found in JSC 31000 Volume 3, “Space Station Projects Description and Requirements Document,” Revision H (Reference 3). The D/R System must minimize EVA time by depressurizing the airlock within 10 minutes.