Questions tagged [spacesuits]
Questions regarding the spacesuits that astronauts wear whilst in space
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Could you skim along the Karman line using a parafoil?
Imagine a person just wearing a spacesuit equipped with a parafoil returning from low orbit. Could they maintain altitude starting at 7.8 km/s above or along the Karman line slowly losing speed—maybe ...
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What do I use to make a Neck Ring?
I’ve been working on a homemade space suit, and I’ve been trying to figure out on what to use to make a neck ring. But so far I can’t really find anything, Does anyone know what I could use for the ...
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What are the technical differences between AxEMU and xEMU?
On March 15, 2023, Axiom Space sort-of unveiled their lunar spacesuit, based on the NASA xEMU. I say sort-of because apparently, though the Axiom suit is selected for Artemis III, missions following ...
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Lead lined Martian suit
Despite having to transport a significant amount of mass to Mars, would lead lined environment suits be viable, to provide cosmic radiation shielding for Martian colonists?
Would carrying that extra ...
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How to repressurize a vacuum chamber really fast?
There was an accident during a suit test in a vacuum chamber on December 14, 1966. The suit lost pressure and
The chamber – which would normally take 30 minutes to repressurized –
was blasted back to ...
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Spacesuit with no thermal insulation. Would person inside freeze or overheat?
Let us say I have a theoretical super thin spacesuit which has zero thermal insulation. As if person would be naked in space, but all other variables - pressure, oxygen, food and other life support ...
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What policies and capabilities are in place to induce hypothermia for the purpose of reducing hypoxic brain damage in EVA depressurization?
Depressurization incidents during EVA will have hypoxia as the ultimate cause of death or permanent brain damage. If an astronaut’s brain is deprived of oxygen, irreparable damage occurs after about 4 ...
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Why is the new Artemis suit orange?
In the picture it shows two different suits. Why did NASA color one orange just like they did with the space shuttle astronaut suits?
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For how long could astronauts stay on the surface of Europa, Jupiter's moon, with our current latest and most advanced spacesuit before dying?
Is it possible for astronauts to land on Europa safely?
Given the fact that radiation level on Europa is about 5.4 Sv (or about 540 rem) per day and the temperature is around -260 °F (or about -160 °C)...
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Why the Snoopy Cap rather than a conventional headset?
Why do American astronauts wear the "snoopy cap" elastic hood with communications headset rather than a more conventional style of headset that doesn't have a hood? Does the cap provide ...
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Why is there a white panel in astronaut’s fabric headcover they wear inside the hard helmet?
Astronauts always have a black fabric headcover worn over their hair or scalp, when they are wearing the spacesuit and helmet for takeoff or EVAs. There’s always a white panel that looks about 3 ...
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Draper Labs' Control Moment Gyroscope Spacesuit
Back in 2013/2014 Draper Laboratory announced that they were designing and testing a "spacesuit jetpack" that employed control moment gyroscopes (CMG) to allow astronauts to preform EVAs ...
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Space Suit for Artemis, why two contracts instead of only one?
NASA has selected two companies to make spacesuits for its Artemis moon program and future International Space Station (ISS) missions.
Teams led by Axiom Space and Collins Aerospace (with ILC Dover ...
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Moon Suit to be used for the Artemis III mission?
The Moon landing mission Artemis III is scheduled for launch in 2025. It will be the first Lunar crewed mission after Apollo.
What is the development state of the moon suit to be used for moonwalks ...
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Do you need to operate laptop computers to run the ISS SSRMS robots Canadarm2 & Dextre? What if there's a pressure loss and you're wearing a suit?
Comments and to some extent the current answer to If an ISS emergency requires pressure suits temporarily, can they still use the laptops? Move the cursor? address a highly unlikely scenario where a ...
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Why do EVA suits have legs?
Why do EVA suits have legs?
Planetary exploration suits (PES) obviously need legs. Spacesuits with legs are “a classic icon of human space exploration” and a requirement for mobility. https://www....
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Pressurized gloves have significant limitations. What are objective advantages/disadvantages of the alternatives? [closed]
Conventional EVA suits suffer from mobility and tactile sensory limitations due to their pressurization. Any articulated container which changes volume with motion will resist motion if pressurized. ...
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Why aren't spacecraft and spacesuits pressurised to 2.5 psi (17 kPa) of pure oxygen?
Today 1 atm (101.3 kPa, 14.7 psi) with sea level composition is most commonly used on spacecraft to avoid fire hazards like in Apollo 1 (not that it would have helped the Apollo 1 crew as they couldn'...
user46063
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How long can astronauts wearing Dragon capsule suits walk around unconnected to water coolers?
At various moments in the NASA video NASA’s SpaceX Crew-3 Astronauts Launch to the Space Station astronauts are shown standing or walking or otherwise posing for the camera in their Dragon capsule ...
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What is the text on Neil Armstrong's space suit's left glove?
I was looking at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's collection, and Neil Armstrong's Apollo 11 spacesuit has some text written on the left glove. It looks like some sort of instructions, ...
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What spacesuit helmet is this?
There's a classic series of black-and-white photos from the mid-80s showing early shuttle astronaut Anna Fisher in a helmet; one was reportedly on the cover of Life magazine.
Image source: reddit, ...
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What was the first Soviet/Russian spacesuit to use closed-loop ventilation?
The spacesuit used for the first spacewalk used open-loop ventilation, venting exhaust gases into space:
On reaching orbit in Voskhod 2, Leonov and Belyayev attached the EVA backpack to Leonov's ...
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What are Virgin Galactic Space Suits for? What do they do? What don't they do?
In the CNN video linked below the reporter mentions to Unity 22's Astronaut 004 Sirisha Bandla:
When people think of Virgin Galactic, they’re thinking of giving people new astronaut wings like the ...
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In simple terms, how does the way space suits manage breathable gas differ from how scuba gear does it?
I say "breathable gas" because what's in the tank can be a variety of mixtures and I don't know a single word for gas mixture you can safely breathe.
less scientific or clinical sounding ...
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Would've the CO2 scrubbers failed before the O2 supply ran out during an Apollo moonwalk?
This absurd video on Reddit of the Earth blowing up while Apollo astronauts were walking on the Moon got me thinking.
Assuming something catastrophic happened to the Lunar Module the moment the two ...
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How did astronauts tie the laces on their gloves?
I've been looking through images from the Smithsonian regarding early space exploration. In particular, I found this picture of a spacesuit glove, that has laces on it. In the picture's description, ...
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Where exactly are the Apollo space suit sublimators venting steam into space? is there a photo of an astronaut in space that shows the opening?
This excellent answer to How have space suits dissipated the heat removed from astronauts? shows a diagram including the sublimator unit in the red square where the phase transition of water from ...
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What are the quickdraws for around the torsos of the crew-1 crew?
From a NASA tweet we can see the crew exiting, with a pair of quickdraws around their chest:
Oddly, everyone seems to get a different model:
What are these used for?
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How was the "female" SK-2 different from the "male" SK-1 spacesuit?
The SK-1 was the spacesuit worn on the Vostok 1-5 flights.
The same article describes the SK-2 suit as "[a]lmost exactly the same as the SK-1 but designed for a woman". It was worn by ...
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Why do astronauts wear spacesuits during launch?
I have noticed that astronauts in every launch I've found wear a spacesuit during launch, like this example from the shuttle.
I don't understand this. What kind of problem could cause loss of cabin ...
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Would a duct tape spacesuit be practical?
Spoilers ahead for season 2 of For All Mankind.
Essentially duct tape wrapped around the body, over clothing which looks like standard NASA jumpsuits for pressurized environments onboard spacecraft. ...
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Sealing of hatches of Spacecraft capsule, LM and spacesuits
Was there any "plan B" / solution, in case sealing of capsule hatch, LM hatch and spacesuit helmet failed during Apollo missions or any other spacecraft? How did NASA ensure a failproof ...
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Was the SK-1 spacesuit tested in flight prior to Gagarin's historic mission?
April 12 is the 60th anniversary of the first human spaceflight, Vostok 1. As no human had previously been to space, it was also a test of the SK-1 spacesuit that cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin wore.
This ...
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Was there ever a suitcase-sized spacesuit?
Were there any spacesuit designs small enough to fit inside a suitcase? Such a suit might be useful in emergencies or as a backup suit.
Prototypes are fine. Okay to exclude the helmet if it is too ...
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Astronauts make a lot of CH₄ and some H₂ as well; do space capsules and space stations have systems to remove these?
While not as much as ruminants, humans emit methane, CH4, natural gas, etc. regularly. While it is less known, we can also emit hydrogen as H2.
What are the sources of molecular hydrogen in human ...
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Why don't astronaut helmets fog up? What's the chemistry and thermodynamics behind keeping the field of view clear even during heavy breathing?
Some space walking involves exercise (e.g. moving heavy stuff around) and the outside surface of a faceplate is constantly radiating its heat out into space. At night that thermal radiation is not ...
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How far are space-walking helmet faceplates from the eyes? How far will I have to hold my "space binoculars" from my eyes during a space walk?
I'm on a space walk and comet Kohoutek is passing by and I've brought my specially designed space binoculars with me to look at it.
I left my Nikon Monarch 8x42 binoculars inside because with an eye ...
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How will the future Mars Space Suit Helmet design protect Astronauts from Martian Radiation?
Mars Space Suit Helmet Visor's were mostly made up of polycarbonate [1], the same material used for EMU's visor for performing EVA in earth orbit. Meanwhile, Mars' radiation is 2.5x higher. How are we ...
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What was the space helmet "vomit port"?
Based upon centrifuge test results, MSC directed Hamilton Standard to modify the space suit helmet. The vomitus port and other obstructions to the line of sight in the downward direction were deleted....
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Atmosphere inside a space capsule and need for spacesuits
Was the internal atmosphere of Mercury capsule and CSMs of Apollo missions filled with pure oxygen at low pressure, and was the ambiance controlled to match closely to that on earth (e.g. humidity, ...
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Is there an easy way to distinguish pictures of the LES and ACES suits?
The Launch Entry Suit and Advanced Crew Escape Suit were the intravehicular suits used on most Space Shuttle missions. ACES was an improved version of the LES, and both earned the nickname "...
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Do astronauts wear G-Suits during the launch?
Nowadays, rocket launches (to the ISS) accelerate astronauts at a maximum of around 3 to 4g (source).
I have seen quite a few ...
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Are Mechanical Counterpressure Suits like the BioSuit skin compatible when worn for hours?
Mechanical counterpressure (MCP) suits replace the pressure of the gas in the suit by mechanical pressure. Sweat on the skin may evaporate into the vacuum around the suit.
But what about skin ...
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Novel EVA spacesuit designs
I'm looking for a collection of novel EVA suit designs, which are serious (are more than a mere art station create)
There is of course the BioSuit: 1, 2.
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Does the SpaceX spacesuit address any of the criticisms of ACES raised by Columbia Crew Survival Investigation Report?
A brief history of what Shuttle crews wore for ascent and entry, from the Columbia Crew Survival Investigation Report:
The shuttle was originally designed to be operated in a shirtsleeve (bare-hands) ...
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Did an astronaut on the Moon ever fall on his back?
I am curious to know if an astronaut on the Moon ever fell backwards and landed on his back. I have seen many photographs and videos of astronauts who accidentally tripped or lost their balance and ...
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Did some Shuttle flights really have no spacesuits aboard? [duplicate]
According to this source, pages 378-382 and 406, there were no launch suits for Shuttle missions STS-5 through STS-33. Instead, crew literally wore shirtsleeves during launch and re-entry, plus anti-...
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Russian Chibis suit
The Russian Chibis suit is operational since 1971 and is used aboard the ISS, are there recent developments in this technology? How effective has it been found in counteracting the tendency of fluids ...
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Experience of breathing regular air vs. Nitrox vs pure oxygen at 4.3 psi?
Has any astronaut/cosmonaut described a difference in the feeling of breathing pure oxygen at 4.3 psi in a spacesuit compared breathing regular air at sea level or even to Nitrox used in the Neutral ...
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How are astronaut nametags printed when their family name is first?
It is traditional in English and Russian to print a person's given name before their family name. However, there are some languages where that order is reversed.
When flying on an American or Russian ...
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