NASA Makes Knives

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lordoftherings

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So if you were an astronaut and you've been picked to launch to the moon and you needed a knife what would an engineer that wears space suits carry with them to fly and land on the moon.

And a second question what if you were picked to fix out sattelites in outer space or even set out to vv cephei what knife would you carry ?
 
lordoftherings said:
And a second question what if you were picked to fix out sattelites in outer space or even set out to vv cephei what knife would you carry ?
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None needed. Duct tape tears easily. :D
 
A knife seems a bit primitive of a tool to use on the complex equipment they use. Also, I can see an accidental suit puncture happening. I'm betting they don't use knives outside the shuttle, and what they use inside is probably for mundane tasks.
 
There was some vid where an astronaut said he fixed some jamming door with SAK. :D

I don't think that there's that much need for knife there.. maybe a multitool of some sort?

Or better, toolbox?
 
Iboschi said:
A knife seems a bit primitive of a tool to use on the complex equipment they use. Also, I can see an accidental suit puncture happening. I'm betting they don't use knives outside the shuttle, and what they use inside is probably for mundane tasks.
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What about the engineer that sits behind a computer screen and stays on earth with a shuttle launches off into space what knife is he holding in his pocket.

And plus how are you supposed to open space ice cream with space gloves on?

Primitive? Do you mean modern?
 
I've seen a video with an astronaut slicing some piece of fruit with an Emerson while floating around in the shuttle or some part of the Spacelab.
I wouldn't be surprised to find out the knife had a blunt tip like an Emerson SARK. Murphy's Law holds in space too.
 
A.L. said:
Or better, toolbox?
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And you don't have to worry about it weighing you down. :p

The gloves on spacesuits are very thick, if you've ever tried using a folder with big winter gloves on you know it doesn't work so well. I doubt they'd have any use for a knife on a spacewalk anyway, but even if they did, a folder wouldn't be a great choice. On the shuttle I'm sure most of them carry some type of knife but not outside.
 
I don't know what they carry now but this Case knife was carried on every Gemini and Apollo mission. One accompanied Neil Armstrong to the moon.

nasa2c.jpg


The M-1 model 1966 knife is a survival knife and actually resembles a machete. It is 17" long overall and has a 11 3/4" blade. It features white polypropolene handles (the lightest plastic that gives off no fumes) and saw teeth along the back of the blade.

aknifeSN.jpg


nasa2b.jpg


Of course this was back in the day of space capsules that parachuted back to earth so they used these in survival training in case they didn't land where they expected to.
 
Randall model 17. Taken from the Randall website :

"This RANDALL MADEtm model was especially designed for the seven Mercury astronauts, who carried them on America's first manned space flights. Astronaut Gordon Cooper did the final design, and two of these historically valuable knives are on display in the Smithsonian Institution."
 
In 1999 NASA approached Emerson with a special request for a knife for use on Space Shuttle missions and the International Space Station to replace the Randall Model 17 Astronaut Knife. Rather than design a new model from scratch, NASA chose an existing model which already met their specifications, with one additional design requirement. The model is a folding version of the Specwar knife that Emerson had designed for Timberline with the addition of a guthook cut into the tanto point of the blade with which astronauts could open their freeze dried food packages. The knife features the NASA logo and is not available for purchase outside of NASA.


Nasaknife.jpg
 
ericb445 said:
In 1999 NASA approached Emerson with a special request for a knife for use on Space Shuttle missions and the International Space Station to replace the Randall Model 17 Astronaut Knife. Rather than design a new model from scratch, NASA chose an existing model which already met their specifications, with one additional design requirement. The model is a folding version of the Specwar knife that Emerson had designed for Timberline with the addition of a guthook cut into the tanto point of the blade with which astronauts could open their freeze dried food packages. The knife features the NASA logo and is not available for purchase outside of NASA.
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Nice.
 
When NASA sent the first person into space we learned an ink pen would not work in zero gravity. The US spent something like $20,000 developing a pen that would work in outer space. The Russians used a pencil.
 
ekaphoto said:
When NASA sent the first person into space we learned an ink pen would not work in zero gravity. The US spent something like $20,000 developing a pen that would work in outer space. The Russians used a pencil.
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Fisher spent his own cash to develop the "space pen" - urban myths never die.
 
ekaphoto said:
I was never aware it was a urban legend, I thought it was a joke etc. nice to know it is NOT true however. :)
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I think it originated as a negative remark concerning the money spent on the "Space Race".

But that is off topic.

I thought NASA still used Randall knives. Never new about the Case and Emerson knives. Kool in a way.
 
Machete - Just in case I run into any space zombies.
 
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