I’m in there, somewhere!
It takes a village to make the mold for the Soyuz seat liner, as I found out today. A couple of people were pouring liquid plaster on me, a couple more were holding me down so I stayed in good contact with the walls of the “bathtub” and someone was kindly covering my face, so I didn’t get plaster splashes on it.
After a first rough mold was done, it took some iterations of adding and scraping away until I was confident that I had no hot spots and had an even contact all along my spine and, most importantly, my neck. A few more iterations in the actual Sokol spacesuit and the mold was done!
The seat liner is especially important at reentry. As you know, there’s no such thing as a soft landing in the Soyuz: impact with the ground can be violent. But if the liner fits properly, it will distribute the impact load evenly and prevent injury.
Oh, and yes, days like this do make it feel so real!
Getting the mold.
Traduzione italiana a cura di +AstronautiNEWS qui:
https://www.astronautinews.it/tag/logbook/
En español aquí:
https://www.intervidia.com/category/bitacora/
01/10/2013