[jordanb]

There was some concern when Apollo 11 landed that when they repressurized the LEM with moon dust samples inside it would start a fire. I think they had a small test article that they blew a small stream of oxygen over to ensure it wouldn't auto-ignite.

[dotancohen]

And if the sample did auto-ignite, what was the procedure?

[jordanb]

I read it in Buzz Aldrin's book. He mentioned getting rid of all the samples if that happened. I would think the bigger problem would be moon dust all over their suits, but he didn't describe a plan for that.

He said they thought the odds of that happening were remote though, so I guess they decided to risk it with the suits. Apparently he mentioned the problem to his dad who accidentally told a reporter sitting next to him on a flight leading to a big media cycle about "flaming moon dust" prior to the mission.

[bell-cot]

Throw all their samples back outside, then very carefully sweep the inside of the LEM and throw the broom & dustpan out too?

In theory, they could have been equipped to partially pressurize the cabin with (say) helium - which would allow some sort of vacuum cleaner to work. But that could have added a fair bit of mass (by the LEM's very tight mass budget standards).

[mapt]

This sort of scenario, which was thought too improbable to plan for, even by an organization as psychotically obsessed with astronaut safety as NASA, is exactly why human spaceflight was important for exploration. Because astronauts could improvise a sensible solution and the tech couldn't.

[jonas21]

If you didn't have the humans on board, you wouldn't need to pressurize the cabin with oxygen. Or even have a cabin.

[dotancohen]

Yes, the presence of humans adds additional challenges that we overcome and learn from. The learning is the entire point of these missions.

[verisimi]

Empty out a glass of water and blow the floating blobs towards the fire.

[quotemstr]

The moon has gravity. The blobs wouldn't float.

[TeMPOraL]

But you could pour water at the fire from across the room!

Lower gravity is giving the defender an advantage over the elements... at least until it gets low enough for things to start floating, when this flips around. In microgravity, water turns into floating blobs, but fire turns into actual floating fireballs.

Water blobs vs. fireballs. Pretty sure there's a nice videogame idea hiding in there somewhere.

[diegoperini]

> Water blobs vs. fireballs. Pretty sure there's a nice videogame idea hiding in there somewhere.

I like the way you think. :)

[grepfru_it]

Merry Christmas

https://games.grepfru.it/water-vs-fire/

[Chaosvex]

Pretty sure it was a joke.

[monster_truck]

Nobody would joke about something as serious as moon fires dude, c'mon

[cineticdaffodil]

Improvise. Adapt. Overcome or perish. One of the first man in orbit almost died because his suit couldnt fold its arms in vacuum. The enterprise moment where you encounter something new and unforseen must be scary as fuck.