Air/Spacecraft |
Developing Space Suits
We need them if we are going to explore space and the planets, they are space suits. In the 1930s there was a man named Mark E. Ridge who lived in Massachusetts that wanted to fly into the upper reaches of the atmosphere. Up to that time, the only way this could be done was in a balloon that had a pressurized gondola. To try and go to these heights without being in a pressurized environment would be certain death This might not have been outer space yet, but its effect on an exposed human body would be just as deadly. Ridge didn't want to be confined in a gondola, he wanted to use a pressurized suit, but there were none available at the time. He found out the the U.S. Navy had an experimental diving suit. That gave him an idea and he went to Siebe, Gorman & Co. in England and asked them to develop a pressure suit for him. They had vast experience in developing diving suits. A modified diving suit was created and became the world's first space suit. He had the suit and it was successfully tested to over 80,000 feet in a chamber, but he never found any backers to finance his balloon flight into the stratosphere. The poor guy landed up in a mental institution and died at the age of 60 years without realizing what a pioneer he actually was. Modern space suit development followed the path that was lead by pressure suits. Space suits had to be a lot more complex. Hollywood was more than glad to give us their impression of what a space suit should look like. There must have been hundreds of different types depicted in moves over the years, but NASA had some strange ideas of their own. The following suit was more like being inside of a can then a suit. I bet the astronauts were glad that this one was never adopted.
NASA Space Suit about 1960 I can't help but wonder, with all the new materials and chemicals that change their composition, will we get a suit that is not only lighter, but protection against such things as tiny meteor hits. A new material was exhibited by the military last year. Actually it wasn't the material itself that was new, but a chemical composition that was added to it. It made the material virtually bullet proof, if a bullet was shot at it, other wise the material remained more or less normal, so that movement wasn't restricted. A layer of this stuff over a suit would make a space suit virtually indestructible. This is also very handy if you fall on a rocky surface or some other hazardous surface. The last thing that you would want is a tear in your suit. Wily Post, a famous pioneer pilot wore a pressure suit that was designed for him by B.F. Goodrich. It looked like an undersea diving suit. He actually made 10 flights wearing the suit without any problems.
Wiley Post And His Pressure Suit circa 1935 Pressure Suits kept advancing. By the time the Bell X-1E was flying they were getting pretty modern. As almost everyone knows the Bell X-1 was the first plane to break the sound barrier with the great test pilot Chuck Yeager flying it. The record flight that broke the sound barrier occurred on October 14, 1947. As the program progressed so did the flight suits. Pictured below is a flight suit from 1958.
1958 Pressure Suit By the time 1961 had come around, the U.S. and Russia were already experimenting with space suits and both had suits that could be used if needed. This was proved with Yuri Alekseevich Gargarin of the USSR became the first person to orbit the Earth. His vehicle was Vostok 1 and his flight lasted a little under 2 hours. Gargarin was now the most popular person in the world. Below is a photo of Gargarin in his bright orange space suit getting ready for his flight.
Gargarin The American approach to space suits was a little different. Our early suits, such as the ones used by Glen and Sheppard for their flights looked more like those from the movies. They were shiny and had a metallic look to them. These were the suits that were used in the time of project Mercury. Below is a photo of Astronaut Glenn in his space suit.
Glenn Space suits began to evolve even more over the next few years. The Soviets and Americans developed bulky suits, with the Soviet suits making it into space and onto the world's first space station. The U.S. space suits made their way to the moon. Who could forget those early tv pictures of Neil Armstrong as he descended the ladder and stepped on the moon's surface. Below is a photo of the suit that the Apollo astronauts wore.
Apollo Astronaut On The Moon Today we have different space suits for different duties. The shuttle crew wears their shuttle suits, the Russians wear their Sokol launch and entry suits and both wear heavy space suits when they venture outside their ships.
Left: Sokol Suits Worn By Russian And Americans Today NASA scientists are working on a new space suit which is destined to replace those bulky suits that are used for space walks and such. The suit that was used on the space station, for outside work, weighs a hefty 275 pounds. This isn't so bad when you are in space, since you are weightless, but getting outside or inside is a different story. These suits also require a lot of maintenance. NASA is hoping that the new suits will be much lighter, easier to maintain and be much more technologically advanced. The Russian solution to space suits right now is a disposable suit that is a one size fits all. After it is used a couple of times, it is discarded. It is said that these suits are much harder to work outside with, but require much less maintenance. I guess that anything that is one size fits all would fit no one correctly, thus making it harder to work in. It is hoped that the new suit will be at least 50% lighter. The new suit is being designed with the idea that it will replace all the different suits in use now, so only one suit will be needed. It will be able to be worn for launch, in the space station and on the moon and planets we explore and will be able to be used for space walks. It is expected that the contract for the suit will be awarded next year and we will have the first suit by 2010. Hopefully the suit will be available for the trip back to the moon, scheduled for 2014. |
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