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Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins (left to right) in the transfer van returning from the pad with suit tech Joe Schmidt after a Countdown Demonstration Test. Note that, although the astronauts have removed their helmets, they are still using their Portable Oxygen Ventilators to provide air circulation and cooling. Note that the units attached to the suits have white hoses while the unit on the left has black hoses. Perhaps because each unit could only provide oxygen for a limited amount of time, at least two sets of units were used sequentially from the time that the crew started breathing pure oxygen in the suiting room until they were hooked up to spacecraft oxygen. Journal Contributor James Hill calls attention to the fact that, as can be seen in launch-day photo 69-H-1121, units with white hoses were in use as they boarded the transfer van for the trip to the pad and, as can be seen in launch-day photo KSC-69PC-399, by the time they were on the swing arm, they were using black-hose units. In a May 2007 exchange of e-mail, Apollo suit tech Troy Stewart indicated that the black hoses were probably the same as the white hoses except that the outer, thermal insulation had been removed. We do not currently know if there was a thermal reason for using two different units or if the units could provide oxygen for less than the hour that the crews typically used the POVs and the difference in the hoses was a means of keeping track of the units. Photo filed 3 July 1969. Scan by Kipp Teague. KSC-69P-561