Apollo 11 EVA Procedures (Final)
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Source document: 1969-05-26-apollo-11-final-eva-procedures-hsi-38438.pdf
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Original: NASA Manned Spacecraft Center, EVA Branch, Flight Crew Support Division (CF25); “Apollo 11 EVA Procedures, Final,” dated May 26, 1969 (document HSI‑38438; internal id APO B‑078‑65). Prepared by H. Covington, EVA Procedures Section; under the control of the Crew Procedures Change Board.
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Available online: indexed in the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal (Apollo 11 documents); scanned procedures are also mirrored at ibiblio.org/apollo.
Summary
Section titled “Summary”The detailed crew checklist for every extravehicular activity contingency on Apollo 11 — planned and emergency. Unlike the Lunar Surface Operations Plan, which lays out what the crew would do on the surface, this document specifies the cabin-side mechanics of getting in and out of the suits and the Lunar Module, and the fallback procedures if things go wrong. Notably, its planned surface section (2.2) contains no surface tasks — it simply reads “EVA — Reference Lunar Surface Operations Plan,” delegating the moonwalk timeline to that plan. The bulk of this document is therefore the LM ingress/egress sequence and an extensive set of contingency procedures.
Key takeaways
Section titled “Key takeaways”- Three planned-EVA sections: LM prep for EVA (crew status, systems prep, PLSS/OPS donning, depressurization, hatch opening), EVA (defers to the LSOP), and LM post-EVA and equipment jettison (hatch closing, cabin repress, jettison of PLSSs/armrests/ECS canister via the hatch before ascent).
- Surface contingency procedures (§3): a one-man EVA variant of the full sequence, PLSS recharge in the LM (for a second excursion), and LM repress failure handling (including a one-man version).
- Orbital contingency EVA (§4): procedures to transfer a crewman between the LM and the Command Module by EVA in vacuum if normal tunnel transfer were impossible — donning two OPS or OPS/PLSS combinations, depressurizing, and having the crewman egress feet-first, cross on a tended lifeline, and ingress the CSM head-first to the lower equipment bay. Includes CM prep, CM post-EVA, and CM equipment jettison.
- Equipment vocabulary: the procedures are built around the PGA (pressure garment assembly/suit), PLSS (portable life-support backpack), OPS (oxygen purge system), LEC (lunar equipment conveyor), RCU, LEVA visor, SRC/CSRC sample containers, and the LM SEQ bay and MESA.
- Authority/change control: procedural changes were submitted on MSC Form 482 to the EVA Branch (CF25) for the Crew Procedures Change Board — the same configuration-control regime as the LSOP’s CPCB.