Space Suit Prototypes (like Grumman Moon Suit, Republic etc)

[Michel Van]

i love Youtube

here is a nice film of Garret AiResearch EX-1A test

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhB9uWZZPFo


the EX-1A aka NASA Contract NAS 9-7555 Phase B
is hard shell space suite with 5 Psi

EX-1A was shortly consider as Apollo Spacesuit for Mission 18 to 20
but those mission were scraped

 

[Triton]

Thank you Michel for that interesting video clip. I had only seen still photographs of the Garrett AiResearch EX-1A hardsuit before and was wondering how flexible it was.

 

[edwest4]

A good reference is Suiting Up For Space by Lloyd Mallan, 1971. Mostly American, it includes the XMC-2-ILC, XMC-2-DC, prototype suit for the X-20 Dyna-Soar, plus wartime designs, a few German full pressure suits, and mention of British and Italian work.





Ed

 

[Michel Van]

the video was suprice for me too
never know how good flexible EX-1A is
sadly they never used it in Space
Garret AiResearch EX-1A also know as LAAP
Lunar advance Apollo program
for prolonged Apollo 18,19,20,21 Mission
source:
Book - U.S. Space Gear, outfitting the astronauts, page 157

another Hardspace suit consider was for MOL Program
the Litton RX-3 Hardsuit

Idea: the Crew can survive Bail out in high altitude
Source:
Book US Spacesuits ?


on good Space Suit books

U.S. Space Gear, outfitting the astronauts
by lillian D. Kozioski
ISBN 1-85310-515-5
238 page over 150 photos and illustration !
its start with pressure suit for USAAF in 1940s
over USAF, X-20 Suit to Mercury and Gemini Suit
Then Development of Apollo Suit, Skylab
Space shuttle EVA suit and Experimental Suits like RX and AX series
and the history of Garret AiResearch EX-1A Suit.

From PRAXIS
US Spacesuits
Kenneth S. Thomas and Harold J. McMann
432 pages, over 100 design models of 13 manufacturers !
ISBN 978-0-387-27919-0

Russian Space Suits
Isaak P. Abramov and As. Ingemar Skoog
400 pages, from first pressure suit over Vostok, Soyuz lunarsuit to latest suits in 2003
ISBN: 978-1-85233-732-2

 

[Michel Van]

German prototype around 1944/45 in a Go 229 / Horten H IX
got someone more info on that suit ?

 

[archipeppe]

It's one model of suit developed by German Draeger firm during wartimes, Mark Wade has some brief note about that:

http://www.astronautix.com/craft/drarsuit.htm

 

[martinbayer]

Michel,

a bit more info is here:
http://www.cockpitinstrumente.de/archiv/Dokumente/ABC/h/Hoehenanzug/Hoehenanzug%20Watanzug.html

I take it the German text won't present a challenge to you .

Martin

 

[Justo Miranda]

From
-Spaceflight ,112,march 1969
-Project Natter by Brett Gooden
-Unknown source

 

[Barrington Bond]

The Aeroplane 20 March 1959 page 350.

Regards,
Barry

 

[Michel Van]

Michel,

a bit more info is here:
http://www.cockpitinstrumente.de/archiv/Dokumente/ABC/h/Hoehenanzug/Hoehenanzug%20Watanzug.html

I take it the German text won't present a challenge to you .

Martin

THX for link Martin, i understand the text

short translation:
the Suit (on picture below) is some time called WATANZUG by Drägerwerk
but WATANAZUG short for "Anzug zum waten im Wasser"
in English "A suit for work in water"
and was used by groundcrew for moving seaplans on trolley and then move plane on Land.
therefore WATANZUG (Fl 31225 ) is NOT a Pressuresuit

This suit is presumable developed by Horten brother (not yet confirmed)

and again special thanks to Justo Miranda for Picture

The Aeroplane 20 March 1959 page 350.

Regards,
Barry

Nice Find Barry ! ! !
the P Frankenstein and Sons Ltd. prototypes spacesuit for RAF
they made also the Space suit for Stanley Kubrick ‘2001: A Space Odyssey. !

 

[Barrington Bond]

Spark,

does this have anything to do with the foldaway helmet you mentioned earlier?

Regards,
Barry

ps from Aviation Engineering somewhen between 1960-65.

 

[Michel Van]

nice find Barrington !

 

[OM]

...Of course, we can't forget the original. Had Wiley Post invented this just a couple of decades later, we'd be calling it "The Gumby":

(Sources? Trace the URL or a Google and you'll find about a hundred images of this classic)

 

[JFC Fuller]

What aircraft is the individual wearing the WATANAZUG sat in?

 

[Michel Van]

What aircraft is the individual wearing the WATANAZUG sat in?

that not a Watanzug, but a unknown pressure suit ( see Reply #49 here)
the aircraft is a Ho IX or his Testglider Ho IX V1

on Wiley Post suit
it was used on High altitude records with aircraft back in 1935
is that true that Wiley Post in suit after emergency landing,
almost was shoot by farmer because the guy think that Post was a Martian ?

 

[edwest4]

Please excuse my lack of umlauts.

In the German-English book, Nurfluegel by Reimar Horten and Peter F. Selinger, there is a good photo of a man wearing the pressure suit. Clearly visible is a ring near the shoulder and a ring at the wrist. The caption reads:

Test with the pilot pressure suit.

Test mit dem Hoehendruckanzug im Cockpit der H IX V-1. (Photo H. Scheidhauer) Page 139.


In the book Suiting Up For Space by Llloyd Mallan, he writes:


"Finally, the Draegerwerke people hit upon a solution to this annoying problem. They eliminated all structural supports and tubes and cast the main portion of the helmet as a cylinder of clear plexiglass. On top of the cylinder they cemented a dome, also of plexiglass.

"Ultimately, the emergency pressure suit transcended its initial design concept and was worn as a full-time suit in unpressurized cabins of aircraft flying above 40,000 feet."

 

[OM]

is that true that Wiley Post in suit after emergency landing, almost was shoot by farmer because the guy think that Post was a Martian ?

...The way the story goes as I've heard it over the years, he was forced to land on a farm when his featherlight quit on him. The farmer thought he was a "man from Mars", and held him at bay with a pitchfork until Wiley was able to convince the farmer he was nothing but an Earthling. The story, like any wild story that's true, picks up additional embellishments over the years, to where versions are retold where Will Rogers was on board with him, to both he *and* Rogers were wearing the pressure suits, all of which also included the farmer being armed with a double-barreled shotgun; in one retelling, the shotgun was replaced with a Springfield the farmer's father supposedly used to "shoot goddamn damnyankees!" in the War Betwixt the States.

While the incident *did* take place, the one thing I've never heard confirmed was whether he was wearing the suit or not.

Please excuse my lack of umlauts.

...Dat's otay. We Americans tend to have our umlauts removed shortly after birth anyway

 

[Michel Van]

i found this space suit

i don't know, but is this a french suit ?

 

[RanulfC]

What an nobody has mentioned the "Space Leotards" yet? Ultimate "space-suit" is the skin you're in, with a little help that is.
http://chapters.marssociety.org/winnipeg/sas.html
http://davidszondy.com/future/space/SAS.htm
http://mvl.mit.edu/EVA/biosuit/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_activity_suit

And lastly the originally research(ers) have an active development company for the suit:
http://www.elasticspacesuit.com/

Randy

 

[RanulfC]

Probably needs a new thread but....

Well THIS was something that should have been tried a while ago!
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-10/superhero-style-skin-tight-spacesuit-provides-healthy-compression-astronauts

Elastic underwear to prevent bone loss...

Randy

 

[Michel Van]

"Space Leotards" aka "Skin Suit" or in NASA English "Space Activity Suit"

is a radical different approach to Space suit
current Space suit are pressure vessel, were Air produce the pressure.
the "Space Activity Suit" use the tension of suit skin to produce pressure !

the only one how appreciate this concept are S-F Cover artist & Illustrators
who put voluptuous space woman's in ultra tight skin suit...

 

[RanulfC]

"Space Leotards" aka "Skin Suit" or in NASA English "Space Activity Suit"

is a radical different approach to Space suit
current Space suit are pressure vessel, were Air produce the pressure.
the "Space Activity Suit" use the tension of suit skin to produce pressure !

One type of suit I neglected to add to my post as an 'example' is the "Chameleon" space suit:
http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/chameleon_suit_021106.html
http://www.asgsb.org/bulletins/v16n2/v16n2p107-120.pdf
http://www.niac.usra.edu/files/studies/final_report/714Hodgson.pdf

was/is an attempt to "bridge-the-gap" between a full pressure suit and the more efficent MCP designs. Unfortunatly as noted in the cited references, we aren't "quite-there" yet in terms of usable technology. I highly suspect that this is institutional "bias" because there is a lot of work invested in current pressure suits and their manufacturing and the MCP suit would need just about NONE of that technology or know-how. (And it doesn't help that several of the "formost" space suit design experts in the world are utterly convinced that the Mechanical-Counter-Pressure suit doesn't work, has never worked and will never work. An opinion they place the full weight of their reputation and "expertise" behind unfortunatly)

the only one how appreciate this concept are S-F Cover artist & Illustrators
who put voluptuous space woman's in ultra tight skin suit...

Un-True Sir! Quite UN-True!
(All of us "male" space and science fiction fans APPRECIATED both the concept AND the art work! Purly for illustrative purpose only you understand... )

Randy

 

[Barrington Bond]

Interavia No.11 1955

Caption: A full pressure suit developed by the Ministry Of Supply for stratosphere pilots (and space travellers).

 

[Michel Van]

nice find, Barrington Bond

that British suit still use a Oxygen mask
while the US suits of 1954 are more advance

 

[carmelo]

I'm no expert but i didn't think it was a spacesuit - though in a way it did get to the moon and space

those movie suite were used also in episode of "Department S"

on British Spacesuits
is paradox that they study spacesuit design, but abandon all efforts for Space flights
and end in movies and Tv

bloody labor politics

Interesting.
No Profumo scandal and a correct medical diagnosis for Harold McMillan= a Briton in orbit in late 60s?

 

[royabulgaf]

No Profumo scandal and a correct medical diagnosis for Harold McMillan= a Briton in orbit in late 60s?

Here is the political and propaganda, in the flag-waving sense problem. By the late 60s, the US and USSR were in the final lap of a race to the moon. Putting a man in orbit was old news. To do so would be issuing a very expensive press release saying "UK 5 years behind in technology".

 

[carmelo]

Putting a man in orbit was old news.

Well,seems that China disagrees on this point.
Seriously,is true (or probable) that with McMillan (or another Conservative Prime Minister) at n 10 downing street in 1965-1969 would have a some British (or Commonwealth,or UK-France) manned program?
were projects for this in early 60s?
"Britons Astronauts,have never had so good"?

 

[Stargazer]

Amazing thread! I can't help but find a strange Teletubbies/Magic Roundabout quality to this image of the Grumman suit...

 

[Barrington Bond]

From Spark "Has anyone a picture of the Normalair Spacesuit life support back pack shown at Farnborough circa 1962?"

Could this be it? From the cover of a Westland Companies brochure undated but the latest date mentioned in it is 1966.

Regards,
Barry

 

[Michel Van]

nice compact British life support back pack

I look for Picture of ILC Apollo Suit later Prototypes
after A7L they had something called "Omega Spacesuit" study
Wat let to A8L and A9L prototype
if my source are right
much of A9L was used on Later A7LB spacesuit
on A8L had was a two piece suit similar
like today Extravehicular Mobility Unit
but was build from A7L suit

 

[Spark]

Barry,
Fantastic, you may be right, but there is a mystery the suit looks like an early Frankenstein, middle, second half fifties model but with what is effectively a liquid oxygen life support back pack suitable for EVA?
Was the Farnborough early sixties’ suit a later more flexible design with a similar back pack?
Did the BIS proposal for a moon vehicle/mobile base early sixties have an illustration of a life support pack with suit?

From Spark "Has anyone a picture of the Normalair Spacesuit life support back pack shown at Farnborough circa 1962?"

Could this be it? From the cover of a Westland Companies brochure undated but the latest date mentioned in it is 1966.

Regards,
Barry

 

[Michel Van]

i love Youtube

here is a nice film of Garret AiResearch EX-1A test
[flash=200,200]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhB9uWZZPFo[/flash]

the EX-1A aka NASA Contract NAS 9-7555 Phase B
is hard shell space suite with 5 Psi

EX-1A was shortly consider as Apollo Spacesuit for Mission 18 to 20
but those mission were scraped

I found a Interview of Men inside EX-1A suit (on video)
it's Bill Elkins his Designer !
http://www.airspacemag.com/space-exploration/Space-Suits-Past-and-Future.html
and more picture
http://thefoxisblack.com/2011/02/18/space-suit-of-the-week-39/

 

[Michel Van]

this time European Spacesuit proposal for Hermes spacecraft
the suit were similar to Soviet Orlan space suit of that time

sadly i got no source on the picture

 

[Graham1973]

Here is the final Garret AiResearch Report on the EX-1A and the Advanced EVA Suit intended for Apollo 17-20.

http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19710001702_1971001702.pdf

Note: Somehow part of an unrelated report by Fairchild-Hiller (On ATS-F?) is mixed up in the document. But the AiResearch report does include a crew assignment chart for 17-20 as the study even includes crew sizing.

 

[Michel Van]

a little bit off topic
it about NASA inflight coverall garments, flight Suit and Jumpsuits color code

early inflight coverall garments was in Apollo white then Skylab ASTP brown and later Shuttle blue
had NASA consider another colors ?

Flight suit and Jumpsuits
i see allot picture of Astronauts in diversely colors suits
light or dark Blue, orange, Yellow
is this some kind of color code ?

 

[royabulgaf]

As long as you don't have the red suit you're OK

 

[Michel Van]

As long as you don't have the red suit you're OK

ROFL that Star Trek red shirt humor ;D

NASA not use Red in ICG or Jumpsuits or Spacesuits
but the international orange color...

 

[OM]

As long as you don't have the red suit you're OK

ROFL that Star Trek red shirt humor ;D

NASA not use Red in ICG or Jumpsuits or Spacesuits
but the international orange color...

...Ah, but Pete Conrad was wearing a red armband to denote his status as CDR! But since Pete passed away...well, you get the idea ;D

 

[machin shin]

Does anyone have a component list with the cost of materials?

Just how much does it cost to make a EVA suit?

I know that it has to be pressurized to 3.5 ~5 psi. to be comfortable.

 

[Graham1973]

A what seems to be a prototype shuttle space suit.

http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19740008731_1974008731.pdf