Escape pod
Encyclopedia
An escape pod 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
, and infrequently used in real vehicles such as supersonic aircraft.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
, and infrequently used in real vehicles such as supersonic aircraft.
Non-fiction
- Because they were intended to fly too high or too fast for safe use of conventional ejection seats, the B-58 HustlerB-58 HustlerThe Convair B-58 Hustler was the first operational supersonic jet bomber capable of Mach 2 flight. The aircraft was designed by Convair engineer Robert H. Widmer and developed for the United States Air Force for service in the Strategic Air Command during the 1960s...
, XB-70 ValkyrieXB-70 ValkyrieThe North American Aviation XB-70 Valkyrie was the prototype version of the proposed B-70 nuclear-armed deep-penetration strategic bomber for the United States Air Force's Strategic Air Command...
, General Dynamics F-111General Dynamics F-111The General Dynamics F-111 "Aardvark" was a medium-range interdictor and tactical strike aircraft that also filled the roles of strategic bomber, reconnaissance, and electronic warfare in its various versions. Developed in the 1960s by General Dynamics, it first entered service in 1967 with the...
and B-1A LancerB-1 LancerThe Rockwell B-1 LancerThe name "Lancer" is only applied to the B-1B version, after the program was revived. is a four-engine variable-sweep wing strategic bomber used by the United States Air Force...
all used enclosed escape crew capsuleEscape crew capsuleAn escape crew capsule allows a pilot to escape from their craft while it is subjected to extreme conditions such as high speed or altitude...
s of some kind. - Although not designed or intended as one, Apollo 13Apollo 13Apollo 13 was the seventh manned mission in the American Apollo space program and the third intended to land on the Moon. The craft was launched on April 11, 1970, at 13:13 CST. The landing was aborted after an oxygen tank exploded two days later, crippling the service module upon which the Command...
used the Lunar ModuleApollo Lunar ModuleThe Apollo Lunar Module was the lander portion of the Apollo spacecraft built for the US Apollo program by Grumman to carry a crew of two from lunar orbit to the surface and back...
(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 SovietSoviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
"Mike" classSoviet submarine K-278 KomsomoletsK-278 Komsomolets was the only Project 685 Плавник nuclear-powered attack submarine of the Soviet Navy. The boat sank in 1989 and is currently resting on the floor of the Barents Sea, one mile deep, with its nuclear reactor and two nuclear warheads still on board...
submarineSubmarineA submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
had an escape capsule, which was jettisoned upon its sinking in 1989. Some Soviet submarines like the OscarOscar class submarineThe Project 949 and Project 949A Soviet Navy/Russian Navy cruise missile submarines ....
class are rumoured to have escape capsules for the crew. (In the sinking of the KurskRussian submarine K-141 KurskK-141 Kursk was an Oscar-II class nuclear-powered cruise missile submarine of the Russian Navy, lost with all hands when it sank in the Barents Sea on August 12, 2000...
the crew was unable to reach the capsule). However, the TyphoonTyphoon class submarineThe Project 941 or Akula, Russian "Акула" class submarine is a type of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine deployed by the Soviet Navy in the 1980s...
class Ballistic MissileBallistic missileA ballistic missile is a missile that follows a sub-orbital ballistic flightpath with the objective of delivering one or more warheads to a predetermined target. The missile is only guided during the relatively brief initial powered phase of flight and its course is subsequently governed by the...
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.
See also
- Escape crew capsuleEscape crew capsuleAn escape crew capsule allows a pilot to escape from their craft while it is subjected to extreme conditions such as high speed or altitude...
- Escape Pod: The Science Fiction Podcast MagazineEscape Pod (podcast)Escape Pod is a magazine-style podcast launched on 12 May 2005 which presents stories in the genre of science fiction. It has been called "the world's leading science fiction podcast". Until his retirement in May 2010, the podcast was hosted by founder Steve Eley and edited by Jeremiah Tolbert...
- LifepodLifepodLifepod is a 1993 reworking of the Alfred Hitchcock classic Lifeboat. It starred Ron Silver, Robert Loggia, Kelli Williams & C. C. H. Pounder, with Silver also directing. The TV movie aired on Fox Network in June 1993....
movie - LifeboatLifeboat (shipboard)A lifeboat is a small, rigid or inflatable watercraft carried for emergency evacuation in the event of a disaster aboard ship. In the military, a lifeboat may be referred to as a whaleboat, dinghy, or gig. The ship's tenders of cruise ships often double as lifeboats. Recreational sailors sometimes...