Space Shuttle crew communication

[Patricio]

Hi everyone, new poster here, lookin for some answers.

I have always wondered why the crew of the space shuttle has to use headset or hand-held microphone to communicate with NASA or other earth based individuals.

Why don't they just use a "hands-free" intercom system? It would seem to me that this would so much easier and cooler.

Don't you think?

Thanks,

Patricio



If yer gonna flame, put some STANK on it!

[Johnny L.A.]

Welcome to the boards, Patricio.

Microphones sensitive enough to pick up a person's voice from wherever he or she is on the shuttle would also pick up the sound of fans, pumps, and all of the other noises in the ship.

You may think that not having a microphone is very common. Just look at sit-coms and the evening news. In reality, the microphones are on long booms just out of the frame; or, in the case of newscasters, they wear a lavelier mic on their clothing and have an earset. Occasionally you can see the little "pigtail" cord in their heads. Having worked on films, I can tell you that the microphone is often pointed at an actor when that actor is speaking, and then pointed at the other actor when he speaks. Might not be practical in the Shuttle.

The reason productions use a boom mic is so that they don't pick up the ambient noise. The reason astronauts (and all pilots, for that matter) use headsets or hand-held mics is the same.

Of course, if NASA decides they'd like a boom operator on a shuttle flight, I'll be happy to volunteer!

[Phobos]

I'll wager that the microphone they use during calls to the media back on Earth plugs right back into the wall/console for their regular communications with mission control. But for appearing on TV, it's nicer to have the crew all lined up rather than having them crowd around a console.


Welcome Patricio!

[hflathead]

it is all done on the ICS system operated by the communications group. This is done so there is a permanant recording of all communications and is used for verification and troubleshooting. If what you mean is 'voice activated' mics, the point made about background noise is the reasoning there. There are various types of headset/microphone combinations used but most have a button activated transmit for this reason.
later, Tom
( I'm really a rocket scienist, I just look like a biker!)