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The Gemini space suit is a space suit worn by American astronauts for launch, in-flight activities (including EVAs) and landing. It was designed by NASA based on the X-15 high-altitude pressure suit.[ citation needed ] All Gemini spacesuits were developed and manufactured by the David Clark Company in Worcester, Massachusetts.
The G3C and G4C suits were the primary spacesuits worn for all but the Gemini 7 mission. The G3C consisted of six layers of nylon (the innermost containing a rubberized nylon "bladder") and Nomex, with a link net retaining layer and an outer layer of white Nomex fabric. It had removable combat-style boots, also made of Nomex fabric, along with a full-pressure helmet (containing a set of earphones and microphones) and gloves detachable by improved locking rings that allowed easy rotation of the wrists. On Gemini 3, the G3C suit was worn by both Gus Grissom and John W. Young and was the only flight to use this suit.
The G4C suit was identical to the G3C suit, but came in two different styles. Both had additional layers of Mylar insulation for temperature control (250 °F (121 °C) in direct sunlight and −250 °F (−157 °C) in shadow), but the commander's suit retained the removable boots, while the pilot's version had integrated boots and a detachable sun visor which clipped onto the helmet. The G4C suit was worn by all subsequent Gemini crews from Gemini 4 to Gemini 12 (except for Gemini 7) and it was in this suit that Ed White made the first American spacewalk in 1965. A further modification, the incorporation of additional layers in the legs, as well as an outer layer of Chromel-R fabric, was made to the EVA suit worn by Eugene Cernan on Gemini 9A, to accommodate a planned test of the Air Force Astronaut Maneuvering Unit (AMU). [1] On this version, the Plexiglas helmet faceplate was replaced with one made of higher strength polycarbonate plastic. This version was also worn by Buzz Aldrin on Gemini 12 for a similar AMU test, though this test was canceled two months before the mission.
For the 14-day Gemini 7 mission, both Frank Borman and Jim Lovell wore modified G3C suits, but incorporating several changes:
This configuration was designated the G5C suit. During the mission, Lovell was the first person to take his pressure suit off, which was achieved with great difficulty due to his size. Borman later was able to get his suit off, and biomedical data collected during the flight confirmed that astronauts would be more comfortable during Apollo lunar flights in a shirt-sleeve environment, wearing flight suits during "non-critical" phases of the mission. This led to the wearing of such flight suits from Apollo 7 to the present day. The G5C suit somewhat resembles the current Soyuz Sokol pressure suits worn by Russian-launched ISS crews.
The Gemini space suit was chosen by NASA for the initial Apollo Block I Earth orbital concept demonstrator phase of Apollo. Since EVA was impractical due to the hatch design of the Block I spacecraft, and with a design competition underway between ILC Dover, Hamilton Standard (later Hamilton Sunstrand), and David Clark for a new Block II lunar EVA suit, NASA decided to use the G3C as the base for the Apollo Block I suit, designated A1C. This version added new electrical and environmental disconnects, and a protective shell over the helmet visor, which reverted to the more economical Plexiglas. Since Apollo would use a launch escape system in place of Gemini's ejection seats, a yellow-colored U-shaped inflatable "Mae West" personal flotation device replaced the pilot parachute and its harness. Only two Block I flights were initially planned until December 1966, when the second one, to be flown by Wally Schirra, Donn F. Eisele, and Walter Cunningham, was canceled as unnecessary duplication.
Astronauts Grissom, White, and Roger B. Chaffee were wearing A1C suits on January 27, 1967 in a preliminary countdown demonstration test for the planned February 21 Apollo 1 launch, when they were killed in a cabin fire, leading to NASA cancelling manned Block I flights and use of the A1C suit. Since the fire had burned through the suits, NASA added a fireproofing requirement to the new suit, which replaced the outer layer with beta cloth. The Block II suit was designated A7L and manufactured by ILC Dover. The new suit was first used on Apollo 1's replacement flight, Apollo 7 flown by Schirra, Eisele and Cunningham in October 1968.
The Gemini suit was looked at for the Manned Orbiting Laboratory program (canceled in 1969), and has since been used as the baseline for all high-altitude pressure suits worn by U.S. Air Force pilots, including for the U-2 and SR-71. [2] It was also the basis for NASA's Advance Crew Escape System (ACES) pressure suit. On June 11, 2008, the David Clark Company was selected by the Houston, Texas-based Oceaneering International as a subcontractor for the manufacture of the new Constellation Space Suit system, in which its "Operation One" configuration, resembles the current ACES suit, but functions in the same manner as that of the Gemini suit.
The suit family system included both parachute and flotation systems. [3] For EVAs Gemini 4 used the Ventilation Control Module (VCM), for Gemini 8-12 the Extravehicular Life Support System (ELSS) was used. [3] The ELSS was also designed to optionally supply autonomous life support though they never made it to EVA. Two oxygen supply packs were developed for it. One was the Extravehicular Support Package (ESP) (providing an hour's worth of life support), carried aboard Gemini 8 but not used, and the other for the Astronaut Maneuvering Unit (providing an hour's worth of life support), carried on-board Gemini 9 and to fly while tethered but was not used. [3] The AMU was also meant to be launched and flown on-board Gemini 12, and to fly untethered from the Gemini spacecraft, but was scrubbed two months before the mission. [3]
| Gemini G3C Spacesuit | Gemini G4C Spacesuit | Gemini G5C Spacesuit | Apollo A1C Spacesuit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturer | David Clark Company | |||
| Missions | Gemini 3, [3] [4] | Gemini 4-6, 8-12 | Gemini 7 [3] [4] | Apollo 1 (failed), AS-205 (canceled) |
| Ejection |  | | |  |
| Intra-vehicular activity (IVA) | | | | |
| Extra-vehicular activity (EVA) | | | | |
| Operating Pressure | 3.7 psi (25.5 kPa) | |||
| Suit Weight | 23.5 lb (10.7 kg) | 34 lb (15.4 kg)[†] | 16 lb (7.3 kg) | |
| Primary Life Support | Vehicle Provided | |||
| Backup Life Support | Vehicle Provided | (Gemini 4): 9 minutes (Gemini 5,6,8-12): 30 minutes | Vehicle Provided | Vehicle Provided |
| Notes | [†]
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Gemini suit evolution is listed below. [5]
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Apollo 17 was the final mission of NASA's Apollo program, the most recent time humans have set foot on the Moon or traveled beyond low Earth orbit. Commander Gene Cernan and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt walked on the Moon, while Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans orbited above. Schmitt was the only professional geologist to land on the Moon, selected in place of Joe Engle with NASA under pressure to send a scientist to the Moon. The mission's heavy emphasis on science meant the inclusion of a number of new experiments, including a biological experiment containing five mice carried in the command module.
Extravehicular activity (EVA) is any activity done by an astronaut outside a spacecraft beyond the Earth's appreciable atmosphere. Normally, the term applies to what has been termed a spacewalk outside a craft that is orbiting Earth. However EVA also applies to lunar surface exploration, as performed by six pairs of American astronauts in the Apollo program from 1969 to 1972. A Stand-up EVA (SEVA) is when an astronaut does not fully leave a spacecraft, but is completely reliant on the space suit for environmental support. Its name derives from the astronaut "standing up" in the open hatch, usually to record or assist a spacewalking astronaut. The Soviet Union/Russia, the United States, Canada, the European Space Agency and China have all conducted EVAs.
A space suit or spacesuit is a garment worn to keep a human alive in the harsh environment of outer space, vacuum and temperature extremes. Space suits are often worn inside spacecraft as a safety precaution in case of loss of cabin pressure, and are necessary for extravehicular activity (EVA), work done outside spacecraft. Space suits have been worn for such work in Earth orbit, on the surface of the Moon, and en route back to Earth from the Moon. Modern space suits augment the basic pressure garment with a complex system of equipment and environmental systems designed to keep the wearer comfortable, and to minimize the effort required to bend the limbs, resisting a soft pressure garment's natural tendency to stiffen against the vacuum. A self-contained oxygen supply and environmental control system is frequently employed to allow complete freedom of movement, independent of the spacecraft.
The Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) is an astronaut propulsion unit that was used by NASA on three Space Shuttle missions in 1984. The MMU allowed the astronauts to perform untethered extravehicular spacewalks at a distance from the shuttle. The MMU was used in practice to retrieve a pair of faulty communications satellites, Westar VI and Palapa B2. Following the third mission the unit was retired from use. A smaller successor, the Simplified Aid For EVA Rescue (SAFER), was first flown in 1994, and is intended for emergency use only.
Gemini 9A was a 1966 crewed spaceflight in NASA's Gemini program. It was the seventh crewed Gemini flight, the 13th crewed American flight and the 23rd spaceflight of all time. The original crew for Gemini 9, command pilot Elliot See and pilot Charles Bassett, were killed in a crash on February 28, 1966 while flying a T-38 jet trainer to the McDonnell Aircraft plant in St. Louis, Missouri to inspect their spacecraft. Their deaths promoted the backup crew, Thomas P. Stafford and Eugene Cernan, to the prime crew. The mission was renamed Gemini 9A after the original May 17 launch was scrubbed when the mission's Agena Target Vehicle was destroyed after a launch failure. The mission was flown June 3–6, 1966, after launch of the backup Augmented Target Docking Adaptor (ATDA). Stafford and Cernan rendezvoused with the ATDA, but were unable to dock with it because the nose fairing had failed to eject from the docking target due to a launch preparation error. Cernan performed a two-hour extravehicular activity, during which it was planned for him to demonstrate free flight in a self-contained rocket pack, the USAF Astronaut Maneuvering Unit. He was unable to accomplish this due to stress, fatigue, and overheating.
A mechanical counterpressure (MCP) suit, partial pressure suit, direct compression suit, or space activity suit (SAS) is an experimental spacesuit which applies stable pressure against the skin by means of skintight elastic garments. The SAS is not inflated like a conventional spacesuit: it uses mechanical pressure, rather than air pressure, to compress the human body in low-pressure environments. Development was begun by NASA and the Air Force in the late 1950s and then again in the late 1960s, but neither design was used. Research is under way at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on a "Bio-Suit" System which is based on the original SAS concept.
The Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) is an independent anthropomorphic spacesuit that provides environmental protection, mobility, life support, and communications for astronauts performing extravehicular activity (EVA) in Earth orbit. Introduced in 1981, it is a two-piece semi-rigid suit, and is currently one of two types of EVA spacesuits used by crew members on the International Space Station (ISS), the other being the Russian Orlan space suit. It was used by NASA's Space Shuttle astronauts prior to the end of the Shuttle program in 2011.
A flight suit is a full-body garment, worn while flying aircraft such as military airplanes, gliders and helicopters. These suits are generally made to keep the wearer warm, as well as being practical, and durable. Its appearance is usually similar to a jumpsuit. A military flight suit may also show rank insignia. It is sometimes used as a combat uniform in close quarters battle or visit, board, search, and seizure situations, for its practicality.
The Apollo/Skylab space suit is a class of space suits used in Apollo and Skylab missions. The names for both the Apollo and Skylab space suits were Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU). The Apollo EMUs consisted of a Pressure Suit Assembly (PSA) aka "suit" and a Portable Life Support System (PLSS) that was more commonly called the "backpack". The A7L was the PSA model used on the Apollo 7 through 14 missions.
The Sokol space suit, also known as the Sokol IVA suit or simply the Sokol, is a type of Soviet/Russian space suit, worn by all who fly on the Soyuz spacecraft. It was introduced in 1973 and is still used as of 2022. The Sokol is described by its makers as a rescue suit and it is not capable of being used outside the spacecraft in a spacewalk or extravehicular activity. Instead, its purpose is to keep the wearer alive in the event of an accidental depressurisation of the spacecraft. In this respect, it is similar to the ACES suit that was worn aboard NASA's Space Shuttle during launch and landing.
The Advanced Crew Escape Suit (ACES), or "pumpkin suit", is a full pressure suit that Space Shuttle crews began wearing after STS-65, for the ascent and entry portions of flight. The suit is a direct descendant of the U.S. Air Force high-altitude pressure suits worn by the two-man crews of the SR-71 Blackbird, pilots of the U-2 and X-15, and Gemini pilot-astronauts, and the Launch Entry Suits (LES) worn by NASA astronauts starting on the STS-26 flight, the first flight after the Challenger disaster. The suit is manufactured by the David Clark Company of Worcester, Massachusetts. Cosmetically the suit is very similar to the LES. ACES was first used in 1994.
The Mercury space suit was a full-body, high-altitude pressure suit originally developed by the B.F. Goodrich Company and the U.S. Navy for pilots of high-altitude fighter aircraft. It is best known for its role as the spacesuit worn by the astronauts of the Project Mercury spaceflights.
Chromel is an alloy made of approximately 90% nickel and 10% chromium by weight that is used to make the positive conductors of ANSI Type E (chromel-constantan) and K (chromel-alumel) thermocouples. It can be used at temperatures up to 1,100 °C (2,010 °F) in oxidizing atmospheres. Chromel is a registered trademark of Concept Alloys, Inc.
A primarylife support system (PLSS), is a device connected to an astronaut or cosmonaut's spacesuit, which allows extra-vehicular activity with maximum freedom, independent of a spacecraft's life support system. A PLSS is generally worn like a backpack. The functions performed by the PLSS include:
The United States Astronaut Hall of Fame, located inside the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex Heroes & Legends building on Merritt Island, Florida, honors American astronauts and features the world's largest collection of their personal memorabilia, focusing on those astronauts who have been inducted into the Hall. Exhibits include Wally Schirra's Sigma 7 space capsule from the fifth manned Mercury mission and the Gemini IX spacecraft flown by Gene Cernan and Thomas P. Stafford in 1966.
The Constellation Space Suit was a planned full pressure suit system that would have served as an intra-vehicular activity (IVA) and extra-vehicular activity (EVA) garment for the proposed Project Constellation flights, which were planned to begin after the Space Shuttle retired. The design of the suit was announced by NASA on June 11, 2008, and it was to be manufactured by Houston, Texas-based Oceaneering International, the first company other than the David Clark Company, Hamilton Sundstrand, and ILC Dover to produce life-support hardware, as a prime contractor, for in-flight space use.
The Launch Entry Suit (LES), known as the "pumpkin suit", is a partial-pressure suit that was worn by all Space Shuttle crews for the ascent and entry portions of flight from STS-26 (1988) to STS-65 (1994). It was completely phased out by STS-88 and replaced by the ACES suit. The suit was manufactured by the David Clark Company of Worcester, Massachusetts.
An astronaut propulsion unit is used to move an astronaut relative to the spaceship during a spacewalk. The first astronaut propulsion unit was the Hand-Held Maneuvering Unit (HHMU) used on Gemini 4.
Neutral buoyancy simulation with astronauts immersed in a neutral buoyancy pool, in pressure suits, can help to prepare astronauts for the difficult task of working while outside a spacecraft in an apparently weightless environment.
A Mars suit or Mars space suit is a space suit for EVAs on the planet Mars. Compared to a suit designed for space-walking in the near vacuum of low Earth orbit, Mars suits have a greater focus on actual walking and a need for abrasion resistance. Mars' surface gravity is 37.8% of Earth's, approximately 2.3 times that of the Moon, so weight is a significant concern, but there are fewer thermal demands compared to open space. At the surface the suits would contend with the atmosphere of Mars, which has a pressure of about 0.6 to 1 kilopascal. On the surface, radiation exposure is a concern, especially solar flare events, which can dramatically increase the amount of radiation over a short time.
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