77. Is there heating? A/C? What kind of air conditioning? (A K2S Question)

From The Space Library

The atmosphere in the crew compartment starts as cryogenically stored oxygen and nitrogen. These are warmed and mixed and released to produce cabin air. Much heat is generated by the crew and the systems in the cabin—avionics in particular—and most of the time the problem is to get rid of heat rather than warm the air. Air is circulated by fans, passed through lithium hydroxide and charcoal canisters to remove carbon dioxide and odors, and then sent through a heat exchanger where the heat is transferred to a water loop. The water is then sent to another heat exchanger where the heat is transferred to a Freon loop similar to household air conditioners. Freon transfers the heat to ammonia boilers during launch and re-entry, and to radiators underneath the payload bay doors while the orbiter is in space. In space the payload bay doors are opened and the radiators dump the heat into space. (Ref. 1)

Ref 1.NASA, National Space Transportation System Reference, Volume 1 Systems and Facilities, June 1988. This document is available on the Internet at: http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/technology/sts-newsref/stsreftoc.html#sts-umbilical-doors

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Answer provided by Jon H. Brown

Question and Answer extracted from the book Kids to Space - by Lonnie Schorer

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