Ah yes, the safety tyrants!Some true stories:After the Apollo 1 fire, NASA safety demanded that there be absolutely no flamable materials in the space capsule. The astronauts reminded them that humans ar flammable and it wouldn’t be much of a manned space mission with no humans onboard.NASA safety also demanded that all astronaut clothing had to be Nomex (the fireproof glass fiber material). The astronauts refused to wear Nomex underwear, and the safety engineers reluctantly relented.Finally, a few days before the launch of Apollo 11 to the moon, NASA Safety declared that we couldn’t land on the moon because the lunar soil might be flammable and ignite when the crew repressurized the Lunar Module before lifting off the lunar surface. The Mission Director replied “We’ll take the risk. We are going!” (I suspect that his words in private were not nearly as polite as that).
Ah yes, the safety tyrants!Some true stories:After the Apollo 1 fire, NASA safety demanded that there be absolutely no flamable materials in the space capsule. The astronauts reminded them that humans ar flammable and it wouldn’t be much of a manned space mission with no humans onboard.NASA safety also demanded that all astronaut clothing had to be Nomex (the fireproof glass fiber material). The astronauts refused to wear Nomex underwear, and the safety engineers reluctantly relented.Finally, a few days before the launch of Apollo 11 to the moon, NASA Safety declared that we couldn’t land on the moon because the lunar soil might be flammable and ignite when the crew repressurized the Lunar Module before lifting off the lunar surface. The Mission Director replied “We’ll take the risk. We are going!” (I suspect that his words in private were not nearly as polite as that).