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Of all the difficulties involved with putting a man on the Moon, "the major issue the Apollo astronauts pointed out was dust, dust, dust," Larry Taylor, director of the Planetary Geosciences Institute, said in an interview with the Soil Science Society of America. The Apollo 11 astronauts griped that the "particles covered everything and a stain remained even after our best attempts to brush it off." An Apollo 12 crew member moaned that the lunar module "had so much dust that when I took my helmet off, I was almost blinded."
Moondust may look soft and pillowy, but it's actually sharp and abrasive, largely the detritus of micrometeorite impacts. With no wind or moving water on the Moon's surface, moondust never erodes. Effectively, no natural process exists on the lunar surface that can round its edges. When astronauts inhale what is essentially finely powdered glass, it becomes a huge health hazard [PDF]: The powder is so jagged that a deep breath could cause it to lodge in the lungs and pierce the alveolar sacs and ducts [PDF], resulting in a lunar version of "stone-grinder's disease," or silicosis, a deadly condition that commonly killed coal miners (and still kills 100 Americans a year). To complicate matters, lunar dust also contains a lot of iron—and this iron-laden dust has recently been implicated in hypertension among Apollo astronauts [PDF].
[...] No astronaut knew more about lunar geology than [Harrison "Jack"] Schmitt. Previously, every other Apollo flyboy had had a background as a military pilot. Schmitt was the first, and only, professional scientist to walk on the Moon. As a result, the press didn't romanticize or hype the geologist astronaut. The New York Times described the 37-year-old as a "quiet, serious bachelor who does not own a television set or a stereo." As he trained to go to the Moon, completing a 53-week flight training course and logging 2100 hours of flying time, the scientist never imagined that he would wind up being allergic to the lunar dust and rocks he had spent years studying from afar.
[...] When the astronauts returned to the lunar module, it took forever to brush the dust off. Schmitt later complained [PDF] of "a lot of irritation to my sinuses and nostrils soon after taking the helmet off ... the dust really bothered my eyes and throat. I was tasting it and eating it." The symptoms lasted for about two hours. His condition was consistent with the findings of Dr. Bill Carpentier, a NASA doctor who had evidence suggesting the dust could cause allergic responses [PDF].
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Grishnakh on Tuesday February 14 2017, @05:13PM
Hopefully any future Moon landings won't make this mistake again: the suits need to be rear-entry, and attached to the outside of the spacecraft, so that the astronauts are never exposed to any Moon dust (or any other environmental contaminant on whatever world they're setting foot on). I believe the aborted Russian program did exactly this, though of course they never got to put it into use.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Tuesday February 14 2017, @06:25PM
Terrestrially, I've found microfiber cloths good at grabbing and retaining fine powdery dust. Other towels mostly move it around on a surface, the dust probably staying surface-bound due to static electricity.
Also,
the scientist never imagined that he would wind up being allergic to the lunar dust and rocks he had spent years studying from afar.
Pedantically, can't you only be allergic to proteins, and these sorts of problems are considered '(chemical) sensitivities'?
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Tuesday February 14 2017, @06:45PM
Reactions to nickel or penicillin (which aren't proteins) are termed allergies.
http://www.webmd.com/allergies/guide/nickel-jewelry-allergy [webmd.com]
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/nickel-allergy/home/ovc-20267453 [mayoclinic.org]
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/penicillin-allergy/basics/definition/con-20024205 [mayoclinic.org]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Reziac on Wednesday February 15 2017, @06:06AM
Penicillin is close enough:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%92-lactam_antibiotic#Mode_of_action [wikipedia.org]
"β-lactam antibiotics are analogues of d-alanyl-d-alanine—the terminal amino acid residues on the precursor NAM/NAG-peptide subunits of the nascent peptidoglycan layer. "
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday February 14 2017, @07:57PM
However the back of that suit mates up to the airlock, that surface will be dust covered, but, yeah, they can do better than opening the hatch and climbing in wearing a gussied up version of an orbital spacewalker suit.
Remember, though, it wasn't all that long before the Apollo landings that some Russians died on reentry, and the US press made a big deal of our superior suits. Point being, it was all very ad-hoc in those days, progress was blindingly fast as compared to the next 50 years.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday February 14 2017, @10:18PM
Better lesson for next time: whether you bring the suits in or not, you need a well-designed air circulation and filtration system.
Ideally, you leave the suits in their own box separate from the main compartment. But since you are extremely weight-sensitive, some particles will get through from one tool/suit/glove or another, so you need fast and good air cleaners.