NASA Spacesuits Throughout
History
At first, my idea was to create a short documentary on the history of undergarments around the world. From the oldest pair of underwear, to Marie Antoinette’s panier, to the push up bra, each defining undergarment
from history would have been presented. I wanted to collage collections
of photos from historical artifacts and pair them with a personal sketch
of the functionalities and how the pieces were worn (shown on the right).
The timeline would have spanned from prehistoric, every 1000 years after
the first century, and then every 10 years after 1900. The locations would
have gone in order from the Middle East, Africa, Asia, South America,
North America, and then Europe (it will go in this order for each time period).
However, this topic seemed too broad, so I switched my idea to making a
video on the history of NASA space suits. I had recently bought a book on
the NASA space suit collection that they are setting up an exhibition for
next year at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. It included all American pressure suits from the very first designs worn by Wiley Post to the
Apollo missions to the EVA suits today! I researched more on the designs
and compiled them into a video.
The beginning of the video is an introduction to the different parts of a
spacesuit. I introduce the viewer to spacesuits from the Mercury, Gemini,
and Apollo missions first. Then, I describe the mutual influence between
space exploration and pop culture. This will lead me into the introduction
of the Z series suits. I will end the video with an animation of Buzz Lightyear and then a tribute to John Glenn for his recent death.
In addition to the space-themed aspect of the video, I decided to add another component to make this video more special. I taught myself how to
make my own holographic projector and adjusted the measurements so
that it could work for a tablet. Then I looked up video tutorials on how to
create simple holographic videos using Microsoft Powerpoint. After that,
I played around with the animation options and ended up with a pretty
spectacular holographic video on the history of NASA spacesuits!
2 From the launch of Sputnik to the landing of the Mars Rover, space has been considered
the final frontier. 3 For the past 50 years, NASA has been sending people into space and researching alternative landscapes for supporting human life. During the Mercury, Gemini, and
Apollo missions and more, NASA designed 4 pressure-suits, more commonly known as spacesuits, in order to sustain life in outer space.
5 The typical spacesuit’s outer shell is composed of a total of eleven layers. 6 From the inside out, the layers are made up of a comfort liner, a liquid cooling ventilation garment, a gas
retention bladder, a pressure garment restraint, a micrometeoroid liner, five layers of aluminized insulation, and an ortho-fabric layer. 7 This is a liquid cooling garment. It regulates body
temperature by removing body heat in environments where sweating and open air convection
cooling does not work. 8 This is a modified thermal cover layer. It was used in the A7L suit
during the Apollo missions to protect the suit from abrasion and the astronaut from thermal solar radiation and micrometeoroids. In addition to these layers, 9 the suit also includes
boots, gloves, a helmet, and a life support system that keep the astronaut safe from harm.
10 The very first pressurized suit was used by Wiley Post in the 1930s, when aviation required
suits that could withstand the strong air currents called jet streams at high altitudes. This
was before the airplane itself would be built as its own pressurized unit.
11 When the great space race began, NASA developed the first space suit for the Mercury
missions. These shiny suits were not durable, and were only worn inside the spacecraft.
12 For the Gemini missions, the suits were improved for the use of spacewalks. However,
these were still fairly primitive, and the astronaut’s life support was breathing through a
hose connected to the spacecraft.
13 When the Apollo missions came along, the space suit was even further developed in order
to protect astronauts while they were walking on the moon. This time, they also created a life
support system that allowed the astronaut to move far away from the lander without being
connected to it. The space suits worn on the Apollo mission are probably the most recognized.
14 On the way up, astronauts wear these orange partial pressure suits. These suits only pressurize certain parts of the body, and they can only provide protection up to a certain altitude.
15 Space travel has sparked an interest in much of popular culture in the past, most strikingly, the eighties. 16 From Flash Gordon’s spandex comic book super suits to Kirk and Spock’s
futuristic TV show costumes, space exploration was extremely glamorized in the media.
17 However, the reverse is true as well. The old Z-1 suit’s aesthetic closely resembles Buzz
Lightyear’s outfit from Toy Story, 18 and the new Z-2 suit designs NASA has developed in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania are heavily influenced by the Tron Legacy costume designs. 19 For example, the most well known EMU spacesuit is white in order to stand
out against the vast black void of outer space. The Z-2 space suits switched from white to
gray, with strips that light up in the dark. This is just one of many ways that the progression
of pop culture and the material world mutually affect each other.
20 In addition to this, the three suits are now designed with better joint connections for
greater mobility both in space and on planetary surfaces, an easy access port that allows the
astronaut to slip into the suit directly from the pressurized vehicle, and an improved life support system that continuously removes carbon dioxide (which eradicates the need for lithium
hydroxide canisters). 21 Who knows where the next new space suit will take us? The future is
among us! Let us discover together.
Works Cited
Bean123. “Homemade Hologram Projection.” Instructables.com. N.p., 30 June 2015. Web. 18 Dec. 2016. <http://www.instructables.com/id/Homemade-Hologram-Projection/>.
Dunbar, Brian. “The History of Spacesuits.” NASA. NASA, 16 Sept. 2008. Web. 19 Dec. 2016. <https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/stories/history-of-spacesuits-k4.
html>.
“Evolution of the NASA Spacesuit.” NASA. NASA, n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2016. <https://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/spacesuit_gallery/index_noaccess.html>.
“How a Spacesuit Is Made.” How Products Are Made. Advameg, n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2016. <http://www.madehow.com/Volume-5/Spacesuit.html>.
“NASA’s Futuristic Z-2 Spacesuit: How It Works (Infographic).” Space.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2016. <http://www.space.com/25708-how-nasa-z2-spacesuit-works-info
graphic.html>.
Simon. “How to Play a Sound across Multiple Slides in Microsoft PowerPoint 2010.” Moyea Software. Moyea Software, 16 July 2010. Web. 18 Dec. 2016. <http://www.dvd-ppt-
slideshow.com/blog/how-to-play-a-sound-across-multiple-slides-in-microsoft-powerpoint-2010/>.
“Text Box Mirror Text.” Microsoft Powerpoint Super User. Super User, 3 Apr. 2014. Web. 18 Dec. 2016. <http://superuser.com/questions/737055/text-box-mirror-text>.
“Time Final Playlist.” YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTxbE5TvMKXF8NqpC5EzqJjhbD9qCAtPz>.
Young, Amanda. Spacesuits within the Collections of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum: The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Collection. Brooklyn, NY: Power House, 2009. Print.