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How Duct Tape Saved Apollo 17's Moon Buggy
Ant points out a story
spotted on Boing Boing in which NASA "shares a story that turns back the clock 36 years to reveal the "key roll of duct tape in the Apollo program." The quality of the photographs from the moon always grabs me, and the duct-taped fender here is no exception.
Actually that's not entirely true. A few years ago we were working in the field in the Arctic. I stumbled down a hill and broke my arm. The satellite phone wasn't working at the time, so our solution was to make an elaborate splint made entirely out of duct tape. It took 3 days to hike back to civilization but my arm didn't even need to be reset by the doctor.
"Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right" - Salvor Hardin
Works on earth buggies, too. I can't count the number of times a coolant hose or a heater hose (coolant goes through the heater hose?) has gotten a hole and been patched with duct tape "to get to the auto parts store", and was still on the unreplaced hose when I sold or traded the car.
It may be urban legend, but I heard the military calls it "hundred mile per hour tape" because once in some godforsaken jungle somewhere a helicopter broke a rotor (gunshot or something) and the mechanic duct taped it together, telling the pilot to "keep it under a hundred miles an hour".
They used to seal ducts with the stuff.
Has anyone ever taped ducks together with it?
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
I have taped a duck with duct tape. It was a pet duck that had been attacked by a dog and had a huge oozing wound on its back. We were trying to get bandages on it so it wouldn't get (as much) dirt and debris in the wound while it was healing, and gauze and medical tape wasn't enough. We used a combination of duct tape and vet wrap and basically made a sort of suit for the duck that wrapped around its chest and under its wings, to hold the bandages in place. It worked.
Your coolant system patches must've used different duct tape than mine: the hot water melted the adhesive and it was leaking like a sieve in a dozen km. I managed to get home, barely.
Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
My experience with _gray_ duct-tape in the Antarctic is that it's absolutely pathetic in the cold.
For this story to be true, the splint must have been applied indoors and kept under clothing.