Brief Summary: There were three EVA activities conducted today.

EVA-6:

Context: Immobile EVA Crewmember Transportation (Face-down position)
Duration: 12:45 - 1:05
Weather: Clear and Sunny
Maximum distance traveled from Hab: Hab surrounding area (~200m)

Participants: EVA Team-6 (Elizabeth Wolfe, Chip Shepherd, Pieter Jan Van Asbroeck, Marcus Medley; Alex Diaz and Irene Schneider Puente - out of sim support); HABComm (Alex Diaz); Suit Techs (Irene Schneider Puente and Alex Diaz).

Equipment: Emergency Stretcher, camera, and notepad/pen.

Route: EVA Team-6 simulated an injury to an EVA crewmember in the vicinity of the Hab (~200 m away). Crewmember was conscious but unable to walk.

Objectives - Work Done: Determine feasibility of transporting an EVA injured crewmember on an emergency stretcher. Note, because Portable Life Support Systems (PLSS) for walking EVA Suits have, and will probably continue to be, carried as backpacks, the patient needs to be placed face down on a traditional emergency stretcher. The objective was to get feedback from patient and paramedic. Patient Test Subject (Elizabeth Wolfe) noted the following: 1) Being face down was generally uncomfortable, 2) She had to lift her head upward to get an airway, which would not be advisable in the case she had suffered neck/spine injuries, and 3) Her only view was the ground, which did not allow her to have any visual contact with the EVA paramedic. Refer to Pictures 1 and 2 of today's Crew 61 pictures.

Lessons Learned:

• There are several noteworthy disadvantages of transporting injured patients face down:
• When lying face down, the head needs to be lifted upward for respiration, but that movement would be unacceptable in the case of possible neck/spine injuries.
• There is difficulty in monitoring and communicating with patient (no visual contact between patient and paramedic).
• It is also possible that the weight of the PLSS and body itself may compromise expansion of the chest when face down.
• Recommendation: Develop EVA-support mechanism to transport patient in supine position.

EVA-7:

Context: Immobile EVA Crewmember Transportation (Supine position) / ATV Stretcher Stand Duration: 06:05 - 06:40
Weather: Clear
Maximum distance traveled from Hab: Hab surrounding area (~200m)

Participants: EVA Team-7 (Elizabeth Wolfe, Chip Shepherd, Pieter Jan Van Asbroeck, Marcus Medley; Alex Diaz and Irene Schneider Puente - out of sim support); HABComm (Alex Diaz); Suit Techs (Irene Schneider Puente and Alex Diaz).

Equipment: Modified Emergency Stretcher, ATV, ATV Stretcher Stand, camera, and notepad/pen.

Route: EVA Team-7 simulated an injury to an EVA crewmember in the vicinity of the Hab (~200 m away).

Objectives - Work Done: Determine feasibility of transporting an EVA injured crewmember on a Modified Emergency Stretcher, which would allow patient to be carried in the supine position. Alex Diaz and Marcus Medley cut an intrusion into the traditional emergency stretcher to allow for the injured EVA crewmember's PLSS to fit into it. This allowed the crewmember to be placed face up. Two emergency straps were also attached under the intrusion which served as a pouch to hold the PLSS; refer to Pictures 3 and 4 of today's Crew 61 pictures.

Alex Diaz and Marcus Medley also designed and built an ATV Stretcher Stand that would allow the Modified Emergency Stretcher to be mounted on the ATV. The stand was well designed and adequately secured to the ATV's back rack. A method was also developed to secure the Modified Emergency Stretcher to the ATV Stretcher Stand. Several tests were conducted to test the stability of the ATV Stretcher Stand before the Modified Emergency Stretcher was mounted on it. After this was successfully tested, the EVA injured crewmember simulation was conducted.

The objective was to determine whether this Modified Emergency Stretcher concept was feasible for transporting an EVA injured crewmember by lifting te patient and walking, and then transporting the patient on the ATV (with the use of the ATV Stretcher Stand). Note, the patient was adequately secured to the Modified Emergency Stretcher with stretcher straps

Our test subject (Elizabeth Wolfe) was able to provide us with the following feedback: 1) Being in the supine position was much more comfortable than being face down, 2) She did not have to move her head in any direction to have an airway, and 3) She had constant visual contact with the EVA paramedic. Refer to Pictures 5 and 6 of today's Crew 61 pictures.

Lessons Learned:

• There are several noteworthy advantages of transporting injured patients in the supine position:
• Monitoring (visual contact between patient and paramedic) and communicating with patient is better with patient face up.
• When lying in the supine position, the head does not need to be lifted upward for respiration. This is advisable in the case the patient has suffered neck/spine injuries.
• The weight of the PLSS and/or body itself does not compromise expansion of the chest when facing up.
• Modified Emergency Stretcher helped minimized patient motion. One of the main objectives in an emergency rescue situation is to keep the patient immobilized as much as possible; intent is to prevent bending of neck or torso, or flailing of arms/legs.

Recommendation:

• Continue further research of Modified Emergency Stretcher concept and rover stretcher stand mechanisms. The designs proposed in this research proved feasible, but further research is necessary.
• Grapple points on the spacesuits would improve assistance of incapacitated crewmember (would make it easier to transport the patient onto emergency stretcher).

EVA Support Task-6:

Context: PLSS Battery Duration Test

• PLSS 2 was chosen for this test. The total duration of the battery was 12 hours and 55 minutes. Adequate airflow was observed for the first 8 to 9 hours. This decreased gradually during the last 3 hours, where almost no airflow was observed. The test was stopped at 12 hours and 55 minutes into the test, but the PLSS battery was still running.
• These results were surprising given the expected duration time of between 4 and 5 hours.
• Note, all EVA Walkback Procedures developed during this crew rotation were made under the assumption that the PLSSs would provide no more than 4 hours of airflow. The above mentioned PLSS Battery test depicts that perhaps we were very conservative.