Escape pod

An escape pod or lifepod is a capsule or craft used to escape a vessel in an emergency, usually only big enough for one person. An escape ship is a larger, more complete craft also used for the same purpose. Escape pods are ubiquitous in science fiction,^[1] and infrequently used in real vehicles such as supersonic aircraft.

Real life

• Because they were intended to fly too high and fast for safe use of conventional ejection seats, the B-58 Hustler, XB-70 Valkyrie, and B‑1A Lancer all used enclosed escape crew capsules of some kind.
• Although not designed or intended as one, Apollo 13 used the Lunar Module (LM) as a lifeboat when the service module suffered an explosion causing the command module to have to be shut down. The three man crew lived for an extended period in the two man LM and even used the LM's engine to realign the trajectory of the entire vehicle. The crew exited the LM "lifeboat" shortly before re-entry, jettisoning it and using up the last power and O₂ in the command module that they had saved by using the LM.
• The single Soviet "Mike"-class submarine had an escape capsule, which was jettisoned upon its sinking in 1989. Some Soviet submarines like the Oscar-class submarines are rumoured to have escape capsules for the crew. (In the sinking of the Kursk the crew was unable to reach the capsule.) However, the Typhoon-class submarine is also rumoured to have escape pods located near or about the sail. Evidence for this can be found in a German documentary on the Typhoon-class submarine Severstal.

Fiction

• Air Force One is shown as being equipped with a one-person escape pod for emergency use by the President in at least four films, Escape from New York , Air Force One , Bermuda Tentacles and Big Game.
• Star Wars features an escape pod which two robots use to stay intact.

See also

Look up escape pod in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Ejection seat
• Escape crew capsule
• Escape Pod: The Science Fiction Podcast Magazine
• Lifepod 1981 film
• Lifepod 1993 TV film
• Lifeboat

References