the flamboyant aviator Wiley Post proved
the first real pressure suit when he
flew his plane the win he made won a
series of high-altitude flights in 1935
years later many suits for space evolved
based on posts design
there were even designs that never made
it this lunar model was developed at a
time when it was uncertain whether the
moon surface could support a person's
weight our first space suits will direct
adaptations from Navy and Air Force high
altitude pressure garments John Glenn
America's first astronaut to orbit the
Earth enemies during the flight of
friendship 7 in 1962 later astronaut ed
white made history as America's first
space rocket for the first time the
suits had to withstand the pull a vacuum
of space outside the capsule the
astronaut extreme temperatures and micro
meteorites to land astronauts on them in
a different set of functions was
required and full range physical
movement was necessary to carry out
exploration of the moon's surface these
sheets were custom-made each scene was
tailored by hand
gloves were molded from the hands of the
astronauts cooling was provided by this
liquid cooled undergarment the suit
consisted of a pressure barrier and
multiple layers of thermal
micrometeorite and abrasion resistant
material the shovel required yet another
spacesuit concept the modular design can
be converted to fit any astronaut today
there is much work underway at the
Johnson Space Center testing a zero
pre-breathe suit or GPS targeted for us
on a space station in the underwater
test facility that simulates space
conditions astronaut Jerry Ross helps
evaluate normal suit components while
practicing mine assembly of Space
Station structures this prototype suit
eliminates the extensive ongoing
preparation required before working in
space with the current shuttle said not
only will this be more efficient that
the savings in time will allow
astronauts to respond to emergencies
immediately there are trade-offs the
pressure in the zps suit is
approximately twice that in the shuttle
suit the increased pressure is harder to
design for because the suit has to be
sturdy joints need to be engineered so
there is minimal resistance to movement
Joe Cosmo gives an example if you looked
at your hand and see all the functions
that can perform to try to do that in a
simple type of structure it's almost
next to impossible but we're trying to
achieve it across the country another
space suit is on there at NASA's Ames
Research
in California is working on a suit that
may someday see application on the space
station Vic Vic Udall has devoted a
major part of his career to working on
hard spacesuit technology the suit can
be entered from the rear and is built
entirely of aluminum a good material for
space it shields well against radiation
and will hold up to the daily rigors of
the space station we know enough about
metals that we can use conventional
aerospace fabrication techniques and
reproduce the suit Camilla won the tenth
one will be the same drill time
spacesuits have began and limited
mobility systems to the precedent where
we are seeing more and more
sophistication for use on the space
station and beyond