Boeing spacesuits being used by three NASA astronauts. From left: Mike Fincke , Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore . The photo was taken during a crew validation test on Oct. 18, 2022, during which they suited up and tested out a pressurized crew module to in part assess suit functionality.HOUSTON — As a Canadian used to standing at bus stops in -40 degrees, I'm no stranger to stiff gloves.
Space.com staff writer Elizabeth Howell tries on a Boeing Starliner spacesuit glove at NASA's Johnson Space Center on March 21, 2024.Boeing first unveiled its spacesuits in 2017, with features including wrap-around glass in the helmet and touchscreen-sensitive gloves.
Space shuttle astronauts like Williams and Wilmore wore a few varieties of interior spacesuits over the decades. Early 1981-2 missions STS-1 through STS-4 used a Launch-Entry Suit derived from a high-pressure suit worn by U.S. Air Force pilots in the mid-1970s,NASA astronauts C. Gordon Fullerton, left, and Jack Lousma leaving the suit-up room in their Launch-Entry Spacesuits at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on their STS-3 space shuttle mission launch day of March 22, 1982.
Wills Pedrotty pointed to an extra-small spacesuit laid out on a table in Building 9 to demonstrate the different features. The plastic-tooth zippers on the suit, for example, allow for precise pressurization:"there are double rows of teeth that allow it to lock and interlock" to hold the pressure in, she explained.
Why so many suits? Wills Pedrotty emphasized that each spacesuit must be tailored"to the environment that it's expected to work in." The field of human factors considers matters such as an astronaut's ability to reach panels and switches, for example.
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