In many movies and media that depict real-life spacecraft, or near-future spacecraft that are logical progressions of real-life spacecraft, they show the abort handle or button or switch. What would happen in real-life if this handle was pulled during any given moment during space flight; takeoff, orbit, halfway to the moon, etc.?
In: Technology
It usually activates the escape rocket, which blasts the crew capsule away from the rocket. It is only usable for a certain window of the launch and then the escape rocket is jettisoned. It’s not available after that. There’s a different mechanism to blow exploding bolts on the hatch so the crew can get out quickly if the vehicle is still on the pad, then they get into a little cable cart that whips them away from the rocket. These are two completely separate systems with different specific windows of use.
It’s not like the ejector seat in a fighter plane that can be activated at any time.
Once you’re in space, just hope for the best. If still in orbit, an emergency re-entry may be possible, but there’s a whole process for that and it takes a while. You can’t just skedaddle back home all of a sudden.
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