Exploring the Unknown: Selected Documents in ... - The Black Vault

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First Steps into Space: Projects Mercury and Gemini
McDivitt
That’s right.
White
I think this slowed us down.
McDivitt
Well, we set the procedure up so that when we finished with it, it would be right.
I think this helter-skelter thing that we were being forced into was for the birds.
So as we got farther along, it became apparent to me that the thing to do would
be to stop.
White
Right.
McDivitt
Go ahead with the assembly of the stuff. Why don’t you comment on that?
White
I’ve commented in my Self-Debriefing about the equipment and the assembly
of it. I thought there was no difficulty at all in connecting the “Y” connectors,
the hoses, and the chest pack. I thought the connection of the chest pack to my
har ness was a good one. With the velcro I could move it in and out whenever I
wanted to so that I could make my connections on the inlet side of the ECS hoses.
It went along pretty smoothly, as a matter of fact. I think as we progressed along
in it though, we felt that we had everything done. I didn’t really feel that we had
everything done in a thorough manner. And I think you had that same feeling.
McDivitt
That’s right. When we got to Kano or Tananarive - I think it was Tananarive - I
called whoever I was talking to and said that we were running late and I thought
that we would probably not do the EVA on this particular rev. I knew that we had
another rev on which we could do it. It looked to me like we had all the stuff
hooked up, but we hadn’t really had a chance to check it. I also noticed, Ed, that
you were get ting awfully hot. You were starting to perspire a lot. I didn’t like the
way you looked to start this whole thing off. So I told them over Tananarive -- I
believe it was Tananarive – that we would go ahead and continue on, and I would
let them know whether or not we were going to depressurize at the next station.
We went on ahead and it looked to me like you were all hooked up and about
ready to go except for one thing.
White
We forgot the thermal gloves. I did not have my thermal gloves on.
[4-23]
McDivitt
You did not have the thermal gloves on, which is sort of insignificant, but we
hadn’t really had a chance to check over the equipment to make sure that it was
in the right spot.