That’s what they said in the interview. And didn’t Apollo also had a pure oxygen environment? As long as there isn’t a spark it wouldn’t combust, right?
Even the command module was pure oxygen at 5 psi. There was the Apollo 1 fire, but otherwise I don’t remember that there were any major issues.
The pressure in the Apollo 1 capsule was 16.7 PSI or 1.14 atmospheres of pure oxygen. That’s almost 5.5 times the partial pressure of oxygen at sea level. At 5 PSI, the Polaris crew will only be at 1.6 times the partial pressure of oxygen at sea level.
You’re right, the Apollo 1 was significantly higher pressure. Didn’t know that. 😲 Makes somewhat more sense they could keep a pure oxygen atmosphere even after the accident.
Also, calculating partial pressures in psi is really annoying.