When watching the movie this time, I noticed the astronauts were wearing clear “bubble-like” helmets during lift-off. I WAG this must be for Hollywood logistics to show the faces of the million-dollar actors, right? I don’t recall seeing a space helmet which looked quite like that in museums, etc. In fact, there is a scene where “Lovell” (Hanks) imagines himself walking on the moon using a more-typical space helmet. Granted, lunar conditions are different, but that “bubble type” design doesn’t seem real to me.
However, in the book, Lovell makes mention (in passing) implying there is a different helmet for lunar exploration. Lovell hints at this when describing how they had to hunt down ballast due to the spacecraft being underweight lacking 200+ pounds of lunar soil samples and moon rocks.
Also in the movie, during re-entry, the astronauts were not wearing any helmets. I WAG this must have been a Hollywood blooper. If the ride up requires helmets, I’d bet so does the rough ride down! {There are other bloopers you can find, too…if you got the right stuff, so to speak!}
Actually, the movie was correct. On the Moon, you need to shield your eyes from the glaring sunlight, so most of the ‘bubble helmet’ was covered with opaque material, and a visor was added in the front. In the Apollo command module, visibility is more important, and sunlight is not an issue.
Yes, I would agree and understand the need for UV protection, etc., while walking on the moon. I just thought
the helmet was multi-purpose and the visor simply flipped down into place for eye protection.
The visor/shell assembly is rather bulky, so it’s better just to have the clear helmets in the CM.
Incidentally, the helmet Tom Hanks wore in the “moon fantasy” scene looked hokey to me. Then I heard Jim Lovell say that the helmet he planned to wear on the moon actually looked like that (with the anchor, and whatnot). I think he still has the original.
IMO, Apollo 13 is one of the most technically accurate films I’ve seen.
Last weekend I happened to see a piece of Apollo 11 memorabilia for sale – very nice it was too, a framed photo of Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins, signed by all three, along with a mission patch and medallion. It was just a bit pricecy at NZ$1100 (~$500 US).
Anyway, one of the things that caught my eye was that the helmet that Michael Collins was holding for the promo shot was quite distinct from the other two in having a clear visor.
Presumably as the command module pilot he did not need (or get supplied with) a helmet with a golden visor such as the ones Armstrong and Aldrin were holding.
