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A project log for Spacecraft hatch parts

Latches and hinges based on NASA Apollo designs, modelled in OpenSCAD

tobiasTobias 08/01/2023 at 09:570 Comments

The latches used on Apollo Block 2 spacecraft are a pretty cool piece of engineering. Essentially, they're designed to lock closed in such a way that any force trying to push open the door is not transmitted beyond the latch itself - there's a handle that opens and closes the latch, but any force on the latch won't exert any force on the handle.

The Apollo hatch would use 14 of these - all attached with pushrods and bell-cranks at the corners.

I'm not sure who the credit for this design goes to - someone at NASA, Rockwell, or someone else - but there's a ton of great imagery and detail at Historic Space Systems here: https://space1.com/About_Us/In_the_Works/Apollo_Hatch_Latch/apollo_hatch_latch.html as well as this awesome paper craft version at Paper Modelers: https://www.papermodelers.com/forum/pasa-paper-aeronautical-space-administration/45348-apollo-cm-crew-hatch.html

I've modelled a version of the latch in OpenSCAD. At the moment this is mostly to work out how the kinematics operate, but this will form the basis of a 3d-printable version

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