Bunkbedgate

Bunkbedgate is a term referring to 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 hold the astronauts in the Longhouse during the Mission. The beds consisted of three sets of paired beds stacked two to a unit, and were constructed of wood.

The collapse

On the first night of the mission, Stefan entered his bunk, the top bunk of the third unit, via the Kevan-built stepladder constructed for that purpose, 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 luckily uninjured in the collapse, but his bunk was unusable and the other top bunks were ruled unsafe pending investigation, and the crew members on top bunks slept in the Interlock. 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 the repair persons (Stefan and Nevin) were inspired to test the strength of said bunk by lightly jumping on it.

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 immediately 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.

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 by an irate and sore Mission Commander De Young. 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.