Rapid EVA
I’ve been reading about the Shuttle Baseline Reference Missions—particularly Baseline Reference Mission 3A/3B, which were arguably the most influential in shaping the Shuttle’s design and planform.
These missions involved launching from Vandenberg AFB, deploying or retrieving a satellite within a single orbit—roughly 30 minutes—and then returning immediately to VAFB. It’s an unusual and highly constrained profile with limited real‑world utility, but it opens up some fascinating fictional possibilities.
One issue that struck me is the timeline. With only half an hour on orbit, there would be no time for prebreathe protocols, suit‑up, and EVA preparation if the Canadarm were unable to deploy or retrieve the payload. My assumption is that in such a case, the mission simply couldn’t accomplish its objective.
However, it made me wonder about the theoretical feasibility of a more extreme approach:
Could suited astronauts have pre‑breathed on the ground and been loaded into the payload bay—possibly even mounted to the Canadarm or a restraint system—so they were EVA‑ready immediately after reaching orbit?
My questions for the community are:
>Rapid‑EVA concepts — Was anything like this ever seriously considered? My research suggests not.
>Alternative rapid‑response ideas — Were there any other studies on extremely fast EVA capability for Shuttle missions?
>Launch survivability — In principle, could a fully suited astronaut survive launch in the payload bay if properly restrained and supplied with life support?
Interested to hear any thoughts, technical insights, or historical references anyone may have.