Difference between revisions of "Bunkbedgate"

Revision as of 14:25, 14 September 2010

The bunks involved in Bunkbedgate being built

Bunkbedgate is the name given to the incident of the collapse of two bunk beds during Mission Coronis and to the ensuing scandal surrounding their construction and the activities of their occupants. Key players included Kevan Adlard, Alex Foo, Stefan De Young, and Nevin Hotson.

Lead-up

During the months prior to Coronis, Kevan and Alex had been the members in charge of the construction of a set of six bunk beds to house the astronauts in the Longhouse during the Mission. There were three sets of paired beds stacked two to a unit. All beds were constructed of wood.

The collapse

On the first night of the mission, the crew assembled in the Longhouse to partake in the traditional movie-watching session of the mission. Astronauts ascended to the top bunks to view a television screen that had been placed on top of the refridgerator. For a whole hour and a half of Moulin Rouge, the top bunk of the third row of bunkbeds (those closest to the kitchen area) supported both Stefan De Young and Lauren Delrio.

After the movie, the astronauts proceeded to brush their teeth and otherwise prepare for bed. Stefan climbed onto his bunk via the stepladder built by Kevan to retrieve an article of clothing. He lay down briefly, only to have the deck of his bed snap off the rails and fall onto the thankfully unoccupied bunk below, assigned to Nevin. Stefan was largely uninjured in the collapse, but his bunk was unusable and the other top bunks were ruled unsafe pending investigation. The crew members who had been assigned top bunks slept in the Interlock that night.

The wreckage of Stefan's bunk was jettisoned via the airlock the following day.

During efforts to continue removing what was left of the top bunk, the lower bunk collapsed after Nevin joined Stefan in resting a small amount of weight on the supports for the lower bunk.

Incriminations

The Habitat crew immediately blamed Kevan for the collapse, since he had been responsible for the design. Investigation revealed that the screws which fastened the wood that supported the slats to the rail had been placed too close to the bottom edge of the rail. It was thus inevitable that the screws would rip through if the bed was subjected to load. There was no other fastening supporting the slats.

Kevan claimed that Alex had been responsible for the actual construction of the third set of bunks, and had used scrap wood in its construction. He further charged that the second bunk had collapsed because Stefan and Nevin had been jumping on it despite there not being any evidence to support that claim, though mission control personnel of the time allege that rambunctious behaviour had been observed over the video camera system.

Results

Kevan and Alex rebuilt the top bunk during the mission under the cover of "Robbie the miraculous bed repairing robot that will kill you if you look inside the longhouse while it's working on the beds" that was created out of a piece of foam, a circuit board, some cable ties, and a few screws by an irate and sore Mission Commander De Young, who can apparently channel MacGyver when upset. Despite this, Nevin elected not to sleep under it for the remainder of the mission, while Stefan returned to the top bunk. Reinforcing wood was added to all bunks to prevent another collapse. The units were then inspected and declared safe for further use.

In 2007-08, the destroyed bottom bunk was replaced. No collapses took place during the following Mission Red Dawn.