Wednesday, June 11, 2008

The technical marvel that is the space shuttle system does not stop with the spacecraft.

The spacesuits the astronauts wear during launch and landing are examples of high-tech clothing designed to hold communications equipment, oxygen tanks, parachutes and enough water for a day. All while keeping the wearer cool.

You won't see a bulky pressure suit weighing 91 pounds and painted orange on the fashion runways of Paris, but they are an essential element of any astronaut's wardrobe.

No one goes into space aboard a shuttle without one because it could be the key to keeping an astronaut safe in case something goes wrong.

And, according to Shuttle crew escape subsystem manager K.C. Chhipwadia, that's really the whole point.

"It's not really designed to walk around and move like a (spacewalking suit) is, it's really to stay seated and stay alive," Chhipwadia said.

That means it can take as long as 30 minutes to get inside one.

That's because the ensemble is several layers of thin clothing, not one big suit an astronaut climbs into and zips up. The orange part that everyone sees as the astronauts walk out to the Astrovan on their way to the launch pad is simply the top layer.

The astronaut starts with lightweight shirts and shorts and then puts on a shirt and pants that look like thermal underwear with an extensive network of tubes woven into them.

Water pumps through the tubes during the countdown to keep the astronaut cool. A set of plugs folded into a pocket on the outside of the suit connect to fittings inside the shuttle to move the water through the suit.

Then comes the orange outer layer, which actually is two layers on its own. The inner layer is a rubber-like material similar to a wetsuit. Chhipwadia describes it as the balloon part of the suit because it is what holds the air if the suit has to inflate. The outer part of the suit is a flame-resistant Nomex material that is much stronger than the inner layer and gives the suit its shape.

With the helmet, visor and gloves locked in place, the suit fully encloses the astronaut in an air bubble inflated to 3.5 pounds, about the same air pressure as a person would find 30,000 feet above Earth. That is slightly lower than the cruising altitude of many airliners.

That air pressure was chosen because the bailout scenarios for an astronaut in the unlikely event of an emergency call for the crew to evacuate the spacecraft at 30,000 feet, Chhipwadia said.

Once an astronaut gets out of a crippled shuttle, the suit is designed to act largely automatically.

posted by NASA International Space Station Mission Shuttle Google Earth Science News Technology Mars System Universe Astronomy Moon and Mars Solar System Milky Way Planet Earth Satellite Space Telescope Galaxy @ 11:35 PM permanent link   | Post a Comment |

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