Historic Space Suits
- By Susan K. Lewis
- Posted 11.11.10
- NOVA scienceNOW
If you were suddenly transported to the moon, clothed as you are now, your body would suffer a gruesome assault—temperatures as low as -380°F, a barrage of UV radiation, no oxygen to breathe, and perhaps worst of all, no air pressure—causing the dissolved gas in your blood to bubble. In this slide show, see how space-suit design evolved to allow humankind's giant leap onto the moon and beyond.
Launch Interactive
See classic images from Projects Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo as well as space-suit prototypes that never made the cut.
Sources
Thomas, Kenneth S. and Harold J. McMann. 2006. US Spacesuits. Springer Praxis Books.
Credits
- Special thanks to Kenneth S. Thomas for providing editorial review of this slide show.
Images
- (WWII Oxygen Pipes, U-2 Pilot Suits)
- Courtesy Hamilton Sundstrand
- (Project Mercury, Prototype for X-15 Program, Project Gemini, First American Spacewalk, Apollo 11 Moonwalk, First Untethered Spacewalk)
- Courtesy NASA
- (Suits Considered for Lunar Mission, Spherical Experiment #1)
- © Springer/Praxis
Related Links
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Next-Generation Space Suits
Today's suits are notoriously bulky. MIT's Dava Newman is out to change that with a radical, and sleek, new design.
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Life of an Astronaut
In this video, veteran spacewalker Mike Massimino talks about the challenges of training to work in space.
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Hands on Hubble
Astronomer-astronaut John Grunsfeld explains in this podcast why fixing the Hubble is all about the gloves.
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Profile: Dava Newman
Dava Newman develops ergonomic space suits for NASA and has circumnavigated the world in her sailboat.
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