1 00:00:04,480 --> 00:00:12,639 Speaker 1: Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 2 00:00:12,640 --> 00:00:15,960 Speaker 1: and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host Jonathan Strickland. 3 00:00:15,960 --> 00:00:18,639 Speaker 1: I'm an executive producer with iHeart Podcasts and How the 4 00:00:18,680 --> 00:00:22,800 Speaker 1: Tech Are You? So? Currently, on August twenty six, twenty 5 00:00:22,880 --> 00:00:28,360 Speaker 1: twenty four, there is a planned private space launch. SpaceX 6 00:00:28,640 --> 00:00:33,280 Speaker 1: is going to be launching four people into orbit, in fact, 7 00:00:33,479 --> 00:00:36,320 Speaker 1: a high orbit that human beings have not been in 8 00:00:36,320 --> 00:00:39,239 Speaker 1: in quite some time. At least that's the plan. The 9 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:44,639 Speaker 1: four people include Jared Isaacman he is the billionaire founder 10 00:00:44,760 --> 00:00:51,159 Speaker 1: of Shift four, Scott Petite, Ann Menon, and Sarah Gillis. Now, 11 00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:55,720 Speaker 1: these four private astronauts are planning on going up into 12 00:00:55,760 --> 00:00:58,280 Speaker 1: this very high orbit, as I mentioned before. But the 13 00:00:58,400 --> 00:01:03,960 Speaker 1: thing I think is really audacious and ambitious is that 14 00:01:04,240 --> 00:01:07,720 Speaker 1: the plan is for this to become the first private 15 00:01:08,280 --> 00:01:13,800 Speaker 1: space expedition that will include EVAs extra vehicular activities or 16 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:18,600 Speaker 1: space walks in the common parlance. And obviously that's a 17 00:01:18,680 --> 00:01:23,039 Speaker 1: huge deal. Like to go out into space with nothing 18 00:01:23,080 --> 00:01:27,119 Speaker 1: but a spacesuit to protect you from the fact that, 19 00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:29,720 Speaker 1: as I have mentioned many times before in this and 20 00:01:29,800 --> 00:01:33,080 Speaker 1: other podcasts, the fact that space is always trying to 21 00:01:33,160 --> 00:01:37,600 Speaker 1: kill you. So I think that's a really exciting goal. 22 00:01:38,319 --> 00:01:40,760 Speaker 1: And it made me think of an episode that we 23 00:01:40,920 --> 00:01:45,480 Speaker 1: published back in twenty twenty one. And because I'm working 24 00:01:45,640 --> 00:01:48,920 Speaker 1: on a few other episodes right now that are taking 25 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:50,800 Speaker 1: up a lot of time because there's just a lot 26 00:01:50,800 --> 00:01:53,800 Speaker 1: of research to read through, I thought we could revisit 27 00:01:54,120 --> 00:01:57,400 Speaker 1: that episode from twenty twenty one. It published August sixteenth, 28 00:01:57,520 --> 00:02:00,880 Speaker 1: twenty twenty one, so almost exactly three years ago, just 29 00:02:00,880 --> 00:02:03,720 Speaker 1: a little more than that now, and it is titled 30 00:02:04,040 --> 00:02:13,280 Speaker 1: Space Suit Evolution I hope you enjoy. Back in March 31 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:16,880 Speaker 1: of twenty twenty, just as we were starting to go 32 00:02:16,960 --> 00:02:21,040 Speaker 1: into a work from home phase, I published the episode 33 00:02:21,240 --> 00:02:23,840 Speaker 1: about the Artemis program, you know, the one that I 34 00:02:23,880 --> 00:02:26,240 Speaker 1: actually ran last week, So if you if you did 35 00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:28,720 Speaker 1: miss it back in March twenty twenty, we ran it 36 00:02:28,760 --> 00:02:32,120 Speaker 1: again last week. And that might have even been the 37 00:02:32,200 --> 00:02:35,440 Speaker 1: very first episode that published after our office closed, because 38 00:02:35,960 --> 00:02:40,240 Speaker 1: it published on March sixteenth, twenty twenty, and from a 39 00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:43,680 Speaker 1: desk calendar that refuses to change, I know the last 40 00:02:43,760 --> 00:02:46,359 Speaker 1: day that most people were in the office was March thirteenth, 41 00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:49,919 Speaker 1: twenty twenty. Anyway, in that episode, in case you didn't 42 00:02:50,440 --> 00:02:53,280 Speaker 1: listen to the rerun from last week, I described the 43 00:02:53,280 --> 00:02:56,919 Speaker 1: goals in the purpose of NASA's Artemis program, which includes 44 00:02:56,960 --> 00:02:59,200 Speaker 1: a return to the Moon, and I'm sure that I 45 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:03,600 Speaker 1: mentioned probably moreultiple times that it was an incredibly aggressive goal, 46 00:03:03,720 --> 00:03:06,200 Speaker 1: one that I was kind of having trouble seeing NASA 47 00:03:06,360 --> 00:03:11,360 Speaker 1: actually achieve. It just seemed like it was too tough 48 00:03:11,600 --> 00:03:14,079 Speaker 1: of a thing to do to have it be done 49 00:03:14,080 --> 00:03:17,480 Speaker 1: by twenty twenty four. Well, NASA's Office of the Inspector 50 00:03:17,520 --> 00:03:20,960 Speaker 1: General has outright said that the twenty twenty four goal 51 00:03:21,080 --> 00:03:25,359 Speaker 1: is unachievable because one of the necessary components, that being 52 00:03:25,480 --> 00:03:29,360 Speaker 1: a new space suit design, will not be ready until 53 00:03:29,400 --> 00:03:32,519 Speaker 1: the spring of twenty twenty five at the earliest. That's 54 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:35,760 Speaker 1: not the only thing that's going to push that program back, 55 00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:38,480 Speaker 1: but it's one of the big ones. So I thought 56 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:41,680 Speaker 1: today we would talk a bit about space suits and 57 00:03:41,720 --> 00:03:46,160 Speaker 1: their history, and then in our next episode we'll continue 58 00:03:46,160 --> 00:03:49,360 Speaker 1: that and talk about the current project to update space 59 00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:52,520 Speaker 1: suits and why has it taken so long? Why are 60 00:03:52,520 --> 00:03:55,480 Speaker 1: we behind schedule? But to start off with, let's talk 61 00:03:55,520 --> 00:03:58,200 Speaker 1: about why you need a space suit out there in 62 00:03:58,240 --> 00:04:01,280 Speaker 1: the first place. Now, those of you have been listening 63 00:04:01,360 --> 00:04:04,120 Speaker 1: to tech stuff for a while know that I have 64 00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:06,520 Speaker 1: a saying, Actually I've got a few of them, but 65 00:04:06,600 --> 00:04:09,120 Speaker 1: one of them is space is trying to kill you 66 00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:13,920 Speaker 1: all the time. It never rests, and it's always trying 67 00:04:13,960 --> 00:04:15,880 Speaker 1: to do it. And there are a lot of ways 68 00:04:16,160 --> 00:04:19,680 Speaker 1: that space is doing this. One is that space, like 69 00:04:20,040 --> 00:04:23,640 Speaker 1: one of those terrible restaurants, has a complete lack of atmosphere. 70 00:04:24,279 --> 00:04:26,560 Speaker 1: I mean, like there's no oxygen out there, so you'd 71 00:04:26,560 --> 00:04:29,560 Speaker 1: have nothing to breathe. You could pass out within fifteen 72 00:04:29,600 --> 00:04:33,679 Speaker 1: seconds just from that alone. Beyond that, your blood could 73 00:04:33,720 --> 00:04:37,400 Speaker 1: boil in space. And that might seem a bit counterintuitive 74 00:04:37,440 --> 00:04:41,400 Speaker 1: after all, Like if you're talking about deep space, that's cold, right, 75 00:04:41,440 --> 00:04:43,279 Speaker 1: I mean, like if you're talking about deep deep space 76 00:04:43,279 --> 00:04:45,919 Speaker 1: you're outside of the Solar System, that would just be 77 00:04:45,960 --> 00:04:48,479 Speaker 1: a couple of degrees off from absolute zero, which is 78 00:04:48,480 --> 00:04:52,039 Speaker 1: the coldest temperature possible because at absolute zero, there's no 79 00:04:52,240 --> 00:04:55,960 Speaker 1: molecular movement at all. Atoms are just kind of perfectly still. 80 00:04:56,320 --> 00:04:59,640 Speaker 1: Normally they're vibrating all around the place. So with the 81 00:04:59,640 --> 00:05:02,880 Speaker 1: temper sure that cold, you would probably expect to freeze 82 00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:06,880 Speaker 1: rather than to boil. I'll come back to the temperature 83 00:05:06,880 --> 00:05:10,000 Speaker 1: thing in just a second, but here's the tricky bit. See, 84 00:05:10,120 --> 00:05:13,159 Speaker 1: for heat to dissipate, you need to have a way 85 00:05:13,200 --> 00:05:16,560 Speaker 1: to transfer it away from one body to another, and 86 00:05:16,640 --> 00:05:19,520 Speaker 1: without convection, the heat would tend to stay with you 87 00:05:19,960 --> 00:05:22,599 Speaker 1: for a bit. Though you wouldn't stay warm for long. 88 00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:25,480 Speaker 1: It's just you wouldn't immediately turn into an ice lolly. 89 00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:29,480 Speaker 1: Now that means you'd have enough body heat to boil 90 00:05:29,600 --> 00:05:33,000 Speaker 1: off your body fluids and blood. See, the vacuum of 91 00:05:33,080 --> 00:05:36,960 Speaker 1: space means there's very very low pressure. Right, there's no 92 00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:40,520 Speaker 1: air pressure in space, and that would reduce the boiling 93 00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:43,200 Speaker 1: point of the various liquids in your body. And if 94 00:05:43,279 --> 00:05:46,480 Speaker 1: they're reduced down low enough, it means that your body 95 00:05:46,520 --> 00:05:50,480 Speaker 1: heat alone would be enough to boil off those liquids. Now, 96 00:05:50,480 --> 00:05:53,800 Speaker 1: we can totally simulate this on Earth, though preferably not 97 00:05:53,880 --> 00:05:57,880 Speaker 1: with a living creature, by putting you a jar of 98 00:05:58,320 --> 00:06:02,080 Speaker 1: room temperature water in a vacuum chamber and then sucking 99 00:06:02,120 --> 00:06:04,920 Speaker 1: the air out of the chamber, and you can make 100 00:06:04,960 --> 00:06:08,599 Speaker 1: water boil at room temperature. This way, the water does 101 00:06:08,640 --> 00:06:11,520 Speaker 1: not get hotter or anything like that, it just has 102 00:06:11,560 --> 00:06:15,440 Speaker 1: a lower boiling point. Actually, the temperature of your blood 103 00:06:15,440 --> 00:06:20,520 Speaker 1: and body fluids would probably go down as it was boiling, 104 00:06:21,040 --> 00:06:25,080 Speaker 1: because boiling is an endothermic process and the liquid loses 105 00:06:25,240 --> 00:06:28,080 Speaker 1: energy in that process. But we'll move on because we 106 00:06:28,160 --> 00:06:30,240 Speaker 1: got a lot of other stuff to cover in this episode. 107 00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:33,719 Speaker 1: So those boiling body fluids and the low pressure environment 108 00:06:33,720 --> 00:06:36,159 Speaker 1: of space means that all your soft tissues would also 109 00:06:36,200 --> 00:06:39,960 Speaker 1: start to swell and expand that would be uncomfortable if 110 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:42,479 Speaker 1: it were just you know, like your skin and maybe 111 00:06:42,480 --> 00:06:45,440 Speaker 1: your fat tissue, but it also includes your internal organ 112 00:06:45,520 --> 00:06:49,599 Speaker 1: so that's you know, inconvenient at best. Now. I also 113 00:06:49,680 --> 00:06:54,159 Speaker 1: mentioned that, as con said in Star Trek two, it's 114 00:06:54,320 --> 00:07:01,080 Speaker 1: very cold in space, but that's only part partly true. See, 115 00:07:01,080 --> 00:07:04,520 Speaker 1: if you're exposed to sunlight out in outer space, you 116 00:07:04,560 --> 00:07:07,440 Speaker 1: could experience temperatures of around one hundred and twenty degrees 117 00:07:07,480 --> 00:07:11,240 Speaker 1: celsius or two hundred and forty eight degrees fahrenheit. Now, 118 00:07:11,280 --> 00:07:13,840 Speaker 1: if you're out of the sun, if you are in 119 00:07:14,120 --> 00:07:17,880 Speaker 1: you know, the shade in space, that temperature would plunge, 120 00:07:18,560 --> 00:07:21,440 Speaker 1: though not necessarily all the way down to absolute zero, 121 00:07:22,440 --> 00:07:24,800 Speaker 1: you know, because we reserve the super cold stuff or 122 00:07:24,840 --> 00:07:29,400 Speaker 1: deep space, but it would go really low, like more 123 00:07:29,440 --> 00:07:31,960 Speaker 1: than negative one hundred degrees fahrenheit and that means that 124 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:35,880 Speaker 1: you're going to encounter vastly different temperatures and changes in temperature. 125 00:07:36,480 --> 00:07:39,400 Speaker 1: Then you've got tiny particles in space that can be 126 00:07:39,440 --> 00:07:43,840 Speaker 1: moving at incredible speeds. These are micro meteoroids, and they 127 00:07:43,840 --> 00:07:46,560 Speaker 1: are tiny, but because of momentum, they can pack a 128 00:07:46,640 --> 00:07:52,360 Speaker 1: huge punch. See that's that classic equation of momentum is 129 00:07:52,560 --> 00:07:58,520 Speaker 1: mass times velocity, So the mass of a some matter 130 00:07:59,160 --> 00:08:02,400 Speaker 1: traveling at a specific velocity, which is you know, speed 131 00:08:02,440 --> 00:08:06,840 Speaker 1: plus direction. So a tiny particle could have very little mass, 132 00:08:06,880 --> 00:08:09,160 Speaker 1: but if it's traveling fast enough, it carries a heck 133 00:08:09,200 --> 00:08:12,360 Speaker 1: of a lot of momentum. I mean, that's the principle 134 00:08:12,360 --> 00:08:16,440 Speaker 1: behind things like projectile weapons, right. They projectiles don't have 135 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:19,320 Speaker 1: a lot of mass, but they move super fast, so 136 00:08:19,360 --> 00:08:21,400 Speaker 1: they have a lot of momentum and thus they can 137 00:08:21,440 --> 00:08:23,680 Speaker 1: have a big impact. So you would want to wear 138 00:08:23,760 --> 00:08:26,080 Speaker 1: something that could offer at least some protection against that 139 00:08:26,160 --> 00:08:29,240 Speaker 1: kind of stuff. Then you've got the various forms of 140 00:08:29,360 --> 00:08:33,240 Speaker 1: radiation that you would encounter in space. Here on Earth 141 00:08:33,320 --> 00:08:36,760 Speaker 1: we have an atmosphere and a magnetosphere, and together those 142 00:08:36,800 --> 00:08:39,000 Speaker 1: provide us with some protection against some of the worst 143 00:08:39,040 --> 00:08:42,480 Speaker 1: radiation out there, like gamma radiation and that kind of thing. 144 00:08:42,800 --> 00:08:45,800 Speaker 1: But if you're outside of that layer of protection, you 145 00:08:45,840 --> 00:08:48,719 Speaker 1: need something to keep you safe from deadly radiation or 146 00:08:48,800 --> 00:08:52,440 Speaker 1: else you could suffer some serious consequences from acute burns 147 00:08:52,760 --> 00:08:57,520 Speaker 1: to long term health complications like cancer. So obviously, if 148 00:08:57,520 --> 00:09:00,400 Speaker 1: you want to visit someplace like the moon, going to 149 00:09:00,440 --> 00:09:03,600 Speaker 1: need a special suit to provide protection against the multitude 150 00:09:03,640 --> 00:09:06,880 Speaker 1: of ways space is trying to kill you. The suit 151 00:09:06,960 --> 00:09:09,040 Speaker 1: needs to be pressurized and allow you to have a 152 00:09:09,080 --> 00:09:12,200 Speaker 1: breathable atmosphere inside. The suit needs to be able to 153 00:09:12,200 --> 00:09:16,480 Speaker 1: remove carbon dioxide which we exhale so that we can 154 00:09:16,520 --> 00:09:20,280 Speaker 1: continue to breathe oxygen and function. It needs to protect 155 00:09:20,280 --> 00:09:22,920 Speaker 1: against micro meteoroids at least a little bit. Needs to 156 00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:25,240 Speaker 1: keep you at a temperature that's not too hot or 157 00:09:25,280 --> 00:09:28,280 Speaker 1: too cold, even as you exert energy to move around 158 00:09:28,320 --> 00:09:33,040 Speaker 1: and encounter areas of fluctuating temperatures. Ideally, it also will 159 00:09:33,040 --> 00:09:36,720 Speaker 1: include systems that let you communicate with other people. After all, 160 00:09:36,760 --> 00:09:40,520 Speaker 1: because space has a shortage of molecules out there, sound 161 00:09:40,960 --> 00:09:44,400 Speaker 1: does not travel in space. For sound to travel, molecules 162 00:09:44,440 --> 00:09:48,320 Speaker 1: need to vibrate against other molecules. Sound travels through the 163 00:09:48,400 --> 00:09:53,440 Speaker 1: air through air pressure, fluctuations and that really, when you 164 00:09:53,559 --> 00:09:55,960 Speaker 1: zoom in on, the whole thing would just be air 165 00:09:56,000 --> 00:10:01,040 Speaker 1: molecules moving and causing neighboring air molecules to move back 166 00:10:01,120 --> 00:10:05,119 Speaker 1: and forth at certain frequencies. And some of those frequencies 167 00:10:05,160 --> 00:10:08,480 Speaker 1: we can observe as sound, We can perceive them. Space 168 00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:12,840 Speaker 1: does not have that excess of molecules, so there's nothing 169 00:10:12,880 --> 00:10:15,440 Speaker 1: to carry sound out there. So we got to have 170 00:10:15,559 --> 00:10:17,800 Speaker 1: tech systems built into our suits if we want to 171 00:10:17,800 --> 00:10:20,240 Speaker 1: be able to talk to each other or to people 172 00:10:20,280 --> 00:10:24,480 Speaker 1: back on Earth. So those are some of the bare 173 00:10:24,600 --> 00:10:28,080 Speaker 1: minimum requirements that you would want from your spacesuit, you know, 174 00:10:28,120 --> 00:10:31,120 Speaker 1: assuming you were going to go out into space itself. 175 00:10:31,480 --> 00:10:35,199 Speaker 1: The earliest spacesuits were a bit simpler than that because 176 00:10:35,240 --> 00:10:38,600 Speaker 1: they weren't intended to be worn outside of a spacecraft. 177 00:10:38,840 --> 00:10:42,160 Speaker 1: You know, there was no extra vehicular activity or EVA 178 00:10:42,800 --> 00:10:46,680 Speaker 1: in the earliest missions. The spacesuits needed to protect the 179 00:10:46,800 --> 00:10:50,880 Speaker 1: people in the spacecraft from other potential threats like maybe 180 00:10:50,920 --> 00:10:55,520 Speaker 1: a fire aboard the spacecraft. They actually evolved from flight suits. 181 00:10:55,800 --> 00:10:58,719 Speaker 1: So let's start with flight suits and work our way up, 182 00:10:59,120 --> 00:11:03,840 Speaker 1: all right, So the earliest aviation outfits were for low 183 00:11:03,920 --> 00:11:07,240 Speaker 1: altitude flying, because that's what the aircraft of the day 184 00:11:07,240 --> 00:11:10,480 Speaker 1: were capable of so early pilots all the way up 185 00:11:10,520 --> 00:11:13,560 Speaker 1: into the World War One era would wear some pretty 186 00:11:13,600 --> 00:11:17,120 Speaker 1: simple gear. There were a few attempts at creating official 187 00:11:17,160 --> 00:11:19,960 Speaker 1: pilot uniforms and suits in the early days of World 188 00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:22,640 Speaker 1: War One, but many pilots chose to go up with 189 00:11:22,720 --> 00:11:26,320 Speaker 1: their own gear instead, as the suits weren't necessarily a 190 00:11:26,320 --> 00:11:29,240 Speaker 1: good fit I mean, so to speak, not like literally fit, 191 00:11:29,320 --> 00:11:32,840 Speaker 1: but like they didn't provide the level of protection against 192 00:11:32,920 --> 00:11:35,600 Speaker 1: the cold, for example, that a lot of pilots wanted. 193 00:11:36,840 --> 00:11:40,240 Speaker 1: So this was actually approved by the military. I mean, 194 00:11:40,800 --> 00:11:44,840 Speaker 1: air combat was so new anyway that it was kind 195 00:11:44,880 --> 00:11:48,439 Speaker 1: of the military catching up to technology. Most of the gear, 196 00:11:48,640 --> 00:11:51,440 Speaker 1: whether it was provided by the military or the pilots themselves, 197 00:11:51,920 --> 00:11:56,120 Speaker 1: was either repurposed or modified motoring gear, so the kind 198 00:11:56,160 --> 00:11:59,160 Speaker 1: of stuff that people who were driving automobiles were wearing. 199 00:11:59,480 --> 00:12:01,640 Speaker 1: So this is where we would get that image of 200 00:12:01,679 --> 00:12:06,199 Speaker 1: pilots wearing bomber jackets and baggy trousers. They were practical 201 00:12:06,280 --> 00:12:08,720 Speaker 1: in that they helped the pilot to stay warm and 202 00:12:08,760 --> 00:12:11,720 Speaker 1: offered a bit of protection against stuff like you know, 203 00:12:11,800 --> 00:12:14,360 Speaker 1: debris that you might encounter or oil that was given 204 00:12:14,400 --> 00:12:17,480 Speaker 1: off by the engine, and for that same reason, pilots 205 00:12:17,520 --> 00:12:20,800 Speaker 1: typically wore goggles to protect their eyes, and gloves to 206 00:12:20,800 --> 00:12:24,199 Speaker 1: protect their hands, and helmets to you know, protect their noggins. 207 00:12:24,920 --> 00:12:28,080 Speaker 1: This was in the open cockpit days when airplanes did 208 00:12:28,160 --> 00:12:32,000 Speaker 1: not travel to super high altitudes, so there wasn't really 209 00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:35,920 Speaker 1: a need for pressurization yet. Also, the temperatures in winter 210 00:12:36,120 --> 00:12:39,600 Speaker 1: could dip as low as negative thirty five celsius when 211 00:12:39,600 --> 00:12:42,400 Speaker 1: flying at altitudes of ten to fifteen thousand feet, which 212 00:12:42,440 --> 00:12:46,000 Speaker 1: was kind of, you know, not uncommon in some parts 213 00:12:46,160 --> 00:12:48,959 Speaker 1: of the world during World War One, so staying warm 214 00:12:49,040 --> 00:12:52,559 Speaker 1: was absolutely vital. Then there was this fella named Sidney 215 00:12:52,600 --> 00:12:56,240 Speaker 1: Cotton from Australia who helped develop a flight suit that 216 00:12:56,320 --> 00:12:59,960 Speaker 1: had a fur and air proof silk lining in it 217 00:13:00,440 --> 00:13:03,520 Speaker 1: to protect against the cold. His design was so well 218 00:13:03,559 --> 00:13:06,720 Speaker 1: received and it became known as the Sidcot flight suit 219 00:13:06,800 --> 00:13:10,520 Speaker 1: for Sydney Cotton. It became the standard for the second 220 00:13:10,559 --> 00:13:14,439 Speaker 1: half of World War One for especially the Royal Air Force, 221 00:13:14,760 --> 00:13:19,280 Speaker 1: so the sid Cut suits became pretty much universal there. 222 00:13:19,840 --> 00:13:22,720 Speaker 1: The first actual flight suit that was made specifically to 223 00:13:22,800 --> 00:13:25,120 Speaker 1: handle the challenges of flying in a plane at higher 224 00:13:25,160 --> 00:13:29,320 Speaker 1: altitudes was the product of a pilot named Wiley Post 225 00:13:29,760 --> 00:13:34,160 Speaker 1: who along with the company BF Goodrich, created this flight 226 00:13:34,200 --> 00:13:37,679 Speaker 1: suit and the suit was pressurized. It had special arm 227 00:13:37,720 --> 00:13:40,400 Speaker 1: and leg joints to help the pilot with mobility because 228 00:13:40,440 --> 00:13:43,280 Speaker 1: when you pressurize a suit, I mean you're kind you're 229 00:13:43,320 --> 00:13:46,000 Speaker 1: inflating essentially, is what you're doing. So you have to 230 00:13:46,040 --> 00:13:48,760 Speaker 1: have some way of dealing with mobility issues because the 231 00:13:48,800 --> 00:13:51,840 Speaker 1: suit gets stiff because it's like you're inside a giant balloon. 232 00:13:52,760 --> 00:13:56,080 Speaker 1: And also they connected the suit to a source of 233 00:13:56,160 --> 00:14:02,440 Speaker 1: liquid oxygen to end up supplying air for the higher altitudes. 234 00:14:03,320 --> 00:14:06,240 Speaker 1: By World War Two, the nature of air combat had 235 00:14:06,360 --> 00:14:09,280 Speaker 1: changed and you had bombers that could fly at very 236 00:14:09,360 --> 00:14:12,520 Speaker 1: high altitudes. But in the days before pressurized cabins, it 237 00:14:12,559 --> 00:14:14,480 Speaker 1: meant that the people inside the planes needed to wear 238 00:14:14,520 --> 00:14:17,440 Speaker 1: special flight suits with electric heating elements in them to 239 00:14:17,520 --> 00:14:20,600 Speaker 1: fight off the cold at those higher altitudes. And just 240 00:14:20,640 --> 00:14:25,520 Speaker 1: as a reminder, electric heaters are really simple electronics. Basically, 241 00:14:25,560 --> 00:14:28,960 Speaker 1: you have a conductor that has a pretty good resistance 242 00:14:29,080 --> 00:14:31,960 Speaker 1: to electrical flow, and then you try to feed a 243 00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:35,720 Speaker 1: current through that conductor. So as electricity tries to flow 244 00:14:35,760 --> 00:14:39,000 Speaker 1: through this conductor that has high resistance, a lot of 245 00:14:39,040 --> 00:14:42,440 Speaker 1: that electrical energy converts into heat, and this is the 246 00:14:42,480 --> 00:14:47,200 Speaker 1: principle behind stuff like electric stovetops and electric toasters. I mean, 247 00:14:47,200 --> 00:14:50,080 Speaker 1: it's similar to how incandescent light bulbs work in a 248 00:14:50,120 --> 00:14:52,520 Speaker 1: way as well. And I should add that there was 249 00:14:52,560 --> 00:14:56,080 Speaker 1: some experimentation with electric heated components even back as far 250 00:14:56,120 --> 00:15:00,400 Speaker 1: as World War One, but they were pretty primitive. In addition, 251 00:15:00,440 --> 00:15:03,560 Speaker 1: they were typically powered by a small windmill generator that 252 00:15:03,560 --> 00:15:06,520 Speaker 1: could be mounted onto the wing of a plane, and 253 00:15:06,720 --> 00:15:08,840 Speaker 1: a normal operation that was fine. But if the pilot 254 00:15:08,880 --> 00:15:11,960 Speaker 1: ever had to engage in say like a dive, where 255 00:15:12,200 --> 00:15:16,000 Speaker 1: the velocity of the air going past the plane increased dramatically, 256 00:15:16,480 --> 00:15:20,040 Speaker 1: well that would coincide with an increased output from the 257 00:15:20,040 --> 00:15:24,400 Speaker 1: windmill generator, and then you could have way too much 258 00:15:24,480 --> 00:15:27,920 Speaker 1: voltage being supplied to the heating elements, and the pilot 259 00:15:27,920 --> 00:15:31,440 Speaker 1: could actually get burned by these components that were meant 260 00:15:31,440 --> 00:15:33,400 Speaker 1: to keep the pilot warm as they flew, which is 261 00:15:33,440 --> 00:15:37,000 Speaker 1: kind of a big yikes. But over time the flight 262 00:15:37,040 --> 00:15:42,440 Speaker 1: suit evolved, pressurization, heating elements, oxygen supply, protective elements like helmets, 263 00:15:42,480 --> 00:15:45,600 Speaker 1: and the development of flame retardet materials all became part 264 00:15:45,720 --> 00:15:48,520 Speaker 1: of the design of flight suits, and post World War 265 00:15:48,600 --> 00:15:51,600 Speaker 1: Two we entered into an era of new experimentation with 266 00:15:51,680 --> 00:15:55,360 Speaker 1: regard to high altitude flying and really pushing the limits 267 00:15:55,400 --> 00:15:59,400 Speaker 1: of both aircraft and human endurance. Part of that was 268 00:15:59,440 --> 00:16:04,000 Speaker 1: how human can handle acceleration or G forces, so like 269 00:16:04,160 --> 00:16:08,440 Speaker 1: G force being in relation to the strength of gravity 270 00:16:08,600 --> 00:16:13,320 Speaker 1: right at sea level essentially, but one G is one 271 00:16:13,680 --> 00:16:17,960 Speaker 1: one to one of Earth's gravity. Well, that last bit about, 272 00:16:18,400 --> 00:16:23,040 Speaker 1: you know, withstanding acceleration was super important because during intense acceleration, 273 00:16:23,440 --> 00:16:26,480 Speaker 1: humans have a tendency to black out. I mean, obviously, 274 00:16:26,480 --> 00:16:30,160 Speaker 1: when you're piloting a craft through the air or in space, 275 00:16:30,640 --> 00:16:32,600 Speaker 1: that's a bad thing. I mean, it's not really a 276 00:16:32,600 --> 00:16:35,040 Speaker 1: good thing in any context, I suppose. But what is 277 00:16:35,080 --> 00:16:38,240 Speaker 1: going on here? Why do we black out at higher accelerations. Well, 278 00:16:38,320 --> 00:16:42,520 Speaker 1: during those intense accelerations, our blood tends to pool in 279 00:16:42,600 --> 00:16:45,360 Speaker 1: the lower part of our body, and that means the 280 00:16:45,400 --> 00:16:49,400 Speaker 1: old brain ain't getting enough of that sweet, sweet oxygen 281 00:16:49,480 --> 00:16:52,400 Speaker 1: that it craves oh so much. And this can lead 282 00:16:52,520 --> 00:16:56,720 Speaker 1: to a grayout, which is where your vision starts to diminish, 283 00:16:56,840 --> 00:16:59,320 Speaker 1: or a full on blackout where you lose your vision 284 00:16:59,520 --> 00:17:03,560 Speaker 1: and even a loss of consciousness. Now, the suits developed 285 00:17:03,600 --> 00:17:06,639 Speaker 1: in the nineteen forties and nineteen fifties used various means, 286 00:17:06,840 --> 00:17:10,560 Speaker 1: such as inflatable bladders that could fill with either air 287 00:17:10,760 --> 00:17:13,960 Speaker 1: or with water in some cases, to provide pressure on 288 00:17:14,320 --> 00:17:17,800 Speaker 1: the lower parts of the body and help push back 289 00:17:17,960 --> 00:17:20,720 Speaker 1: against that tendency for blood to pool in the lower 290 00:17:20,800 --> 00:17:24,720 Speaker 1: half of the body. Even so, this typically only allows 291 00:17:25,119 --> 00:17:29,159 Speaker 1: a pilot to endure a little more acceleration than whatever 292 00:17:29,200 --> 00:17:33,200 Speaker 1: their natural tolerance is, so that's somewhere in between three 293 00:17:33,200 --> 00:17:36,720 Speaker 1: to five times the force of gravity for most people. Interestingly, 294 00:17:37,160 --> 00:17:40,840 Speaker 1: the development of these components was something of a controversy 295 00:17:40,960 --> 00:17:44,320 Speaker 1: in that the people who were building the planes, the 296 00:17:44,359 --> 00:17:47,400 Speaker 1: engineers building planes, were kind of worried that if pilots 297 00:17:47,560 --> 00:17:51,399 Speaker 1: knew that they could push themselves harder because their suits 298 00:17:51,400 --> 00:17:55,640 Speaker 1: would allow them to withstand greater acceleration, that they would 299 00:17:55,640 --> 00:17:58,200 Speaker 1: bloody well go and do that, even if it meant 300 00:17:58,680 --> 00:18:04,040 Speaker 1: that they were pushing the aircraft beyond its own stress capabilities. 301 00:18:04,400 --> 00:18:08,160 Speaker 1: And so some air forces, some you know, some some 302 00:18:08,240 --> 00:18:11,160 Speaker 1: flight schools and stuff, chose to hold back on incorporating 303 00:18:11,200 --> 00:18:13,439 Speaker 1: what would become known as G suits for a while 304 00:18:13,920 --> 00:18:17,679 Speaker 1: in an effort to avoid encouraging pilots to you know, 305 00:18:18,440 --> 00:18:23,800 Speaker 1: go fast. Oh. Also, interestingly, one person to experiment with 306 00:18:23,880 --> 00:18:26,520 Speaker 1: g suit development in the early forties was a guy 307 00:18:26,600 --> 00:18:32,119 Speaker 1: named Frank Cotton from Australia. I say interestingly because if 308 00:18:32,119 --> 00:18:35,240 Speaker 1: you were listening earlier, you heard me talk about Sydney Cotton, 309 00:18:35,760 --> 00:18:38,439 Speaker 1: also from Australia. Who is the fella who came up 310 00:18:38,440 --> 00:18:43,399 Speaker 1: with that Sidcot suit? So your question is, were Frank 311 00:18:43,720 --> 00:18:47,919 Speaker 1: and Sydney Cotton related? I have no cotton pick an idea. 312 00:18:48,760 --> 00:18:50,119 Speaker 1: That was a long way to go for something that 313 00:18:50,160 --> 00:18:52,320 Speaker 1: wasn't even quite a joke. In fact, I think it 314 00:18:52,359 --> 00:18:54,240 Speaker 1: was long enough where we all need to take a 315 00:18:54,320 --> 00:19:05,240 Speaker 1: quick break, but we'll be right back. So by the 316 00:19:05,320 --> 00:19:09,080 Speaker 1: nineteen fifties, the flight suit had evolved into gear that 317 00:19:09,200 --> 00:19:12,040 Speaker 1: was meant to provide various types of protection to pilots. 318 00:19:12,280 --> 00:19:16,359 Speaker 1: With the creation of pressurized cabins with climate control, some 319 00:19:16,480 --> 00:19:19,359 Speaker 1: of the stuff was less important, right, Some of the 320 00:19:19,359 --> 00:19:24,240 Speaker 1: pressurization things and the heat elements weren't as important and 321 00:19:24,320 --> 00:19:27,239 Speaker 1: didn't need to be incorporated into some flight suits. But 322 00:19:27,280 --> 00:19:30,080 Speaker 1: flight suits still needed to be flame resistant, they needed 323 00:19:30,119 --> 00:19:32,880 Speaker 1: to allow for mobility, and they needed to provide protection 324 00:19:32,960 --> 00:19:35,520 Speaker 1: in the event that a pilot needed to eject from 325 00:19:35,560 --> 00:19:39,240 Speaker 1: their aircraft, and also for anything that was involving a 326 00:19:39,240 --> 00:19:42,840 Speaker 1: lot of like intense acceleration, you needed to have that 327 00:19:42,960 --> 00:19:47,359 Speaker 1: G suit protection. But now let's move on to space suits, because, 328 00:19:47,359 --> 00:19:51,080 Speaker 1: as I said earlier, they evolved from flight suits. The 329 00:19:51,160 --> 00:19:54,359 Speaker 1: space race that got started in the nineteen fifties was 330 00:19:54,400 --> 00:19:57,440 Speaker 1: really an extension of the Cold War and a race 331 00:19:57,480 --> 00:20:00,760 Speaker 1: between the United States and the then Soviet Union to 332 00:20:00,840 --> 00:20:04,720 Speaker 1: reach certain milestones before the other could, all while also 333 00:20:04,840 --> 00:20:09,439 Speaker 1: demonstrating a technological capability of raining destruction down on the 334 00:20:09,560 --> 00:20:13,280 Speaker 1: other country should it all come to that. So in 335 00:20:13,320 --> 00:20:18,560 Speaker 1: some ways this was a struggle to clean technological superiority 336 00:20:18,680 --> 00:20:22,280 Speaker 1: over a rival. The Soviets really got the jump on 337 00:20:22,320 --> 00:20:26,040 Speaker 1: the Americans with the launch of Sputnik in nineteen fifty seven, 338 00:20:26,600 --> 00:20:30,160 Speaker 1: marking the first time a human made satellite entered Earth orbit, 339 00:20:30,680 --> 00:20:33,320 Speaker 1: and they would also be the first to put a 340 00:20:33,359 --> 00:20:37,680 Speaker 1: person into space. The first spacesuit emerged from the then 341 00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:41,360 Speaker 1: Soviet Union as part of its cosmonaut program. It had 342 00:20:41,400 --> 00:20:45,480 Speaker 1: the designation of SK one. The SK stood for some 343 00:20:45,600 --> 00:20:49,880 Speaker 1: Russian words that translate roughly into space diving suit because 344 00:20:49,920 --> 00:20:52,359 Speaker 1: the suit had some features similar to like a deep 345 00:20:52,480 --> 00:20:56,440 Speaker 1: sea diving suit, think of like the big daddies in BioShock, 346 00:20:56,880 --> 00:21:00,399 Speaker 1: and even this was an evolution of earlier flight suits 347 00:21:00,400 --> 00:21:04,080 Speaker 1: worn by Soviet jet fighter pilots. The first human to 348 00:21:04,119 --> 00:21:07,880 Speaker 1: go into space was Yuri Gagarin in nineteen sixty one, 349 00:21:07,920 --> 00:21:11,399 Speaker 1: and Gageron's trip was aboard a space capsule and he 350 00:21:11,680 --> 00:21:15,359 Speaker 1: wasn't going to exit the capsule while in space, so 351 00:21:15,400 --> 00:21:19,760 Speaker 1: he didn't need to have the full extra vehicular activity 352 00:21:19,840 --> 00:21:23,560 Speaker 1: style spacesuit. However, because the Soviets had not yet developed 353 00:21:23,600 --> 00:21:26,879 Speaker 1: a spacecraft that could land safely, he would have to 354 00:21:27,040 --> 00:21:31,560 Speaker 1: eject during descent and then parachute down from an altitude 355 00:21:31,600 --> 00:21:34,960 Speaker 1: of around twenty thousand feet. So these are the sort 356 00:21:34,960 --> 00:21:38,520 Speaker 1: of factors that went into the design of the suit. 357 00:21:38,560 --> 00:21:40,359 Speaker 1: They had to make a suit that would be able 358 00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:43,159 Speaker 1: to do these kind of things. The suit had a 359 00:21:43,200 --> 00:21:46,280 Speaker 1: helmet that had a visor that could be lowered down 360 00:21:46,359 --> 00:21:48,399 Speaker 1: over the face. In fact, it had a pressure sensor. 361 00:21:48,840 --> 00:21:51,760 Speaker 1: If the pressure sensor detected a decrease in pressure a 362 00:21:51,840 --> 00:21:56,239 Speaker 1: rapid decompression, then the visor could slam down and seal it. 363 00:21:56,840 --> 00:21:59,600 Speaker 1: The helmet was permanently attached to the suit. You could 364 00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:02,800 Speaker 1: only the helmet off by taking off the whole darn suit. 365 00:22:03,520 --> 00:22:07,040 Speaker 1: Worn Under the helmet was a leather covered radio headset 366 00:22:07,800 --> 00:22:10,200 Speaker 1: below the helmet on the suit was a collar that 367 00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:13,800 Speaker 1: could inflate in the event that Gageron landed in the water. 368 00:22:14,560 --> 00:22:16,400 Speaker 1: That would allow him to keep his head above water 369 00:22:16,480 --> 00:22:18,800 Speaker 1: if that were the case, because again, since the helmet 370 00:22:18,800 --> 00:22:21,320 Speaker 1: couldn't be removed, there was no getting out of that 371 00:22:21,400 --> 00:22:24,160 Speaker 1: suit quickly in the case of water landing, but an 372 00:22:24,160 --> 00:22:27,879 Speaker 1: inflated collar could keep his head above the level of water. 373 00:22:29,160 --> 00:22:31,399 Speaker 1: The fabric of the suit was nylon, which is a 374 00:22:31,440 --> 00:22:34,760 Speaker 1: synthetic polymer, and it was bright orange in color to 375 00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:38,080 Speaker 1: make it easier to spot Gagern upon his return. The 376 00:22:38,320 --> 00:22:42,280 Speaker 1: suit also had gloves with leather palms and heavy leather boots, 377 00:22:42,760 --> 00:22:46,240 Speaker 1: and the suit did the job. Gageran returned safely to 378 00:22:46,320 --> 00:22:48,600 Speaker 1: Earth after spending more than an hour and a half 379 00:22:48,720 --> 00:22:53,640 Speaker 1: orbiting the planet. One time, he reportedly startled a farmer 380 00:22:53,760 --> 00:22:57,879 Speaker 1: and his daughter as he returned. When he landed, his 381 00:22:58,000 --> 00:23:02,280 Speaker 1: walking through the countryside, dragging a parachute behind him, dressed 382 00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:04,600 Speaker 1: in a big orange suit and having a big helmet on, 383 00:23:05,320 --> 00:23:07,520 Speaker 1: and he tried his best to assure them that he 384 00:23:07,600 --> 00:23:10,000 Speaker 1: was a Soviet just like they were, and all he 385 00:23:10,040 --> 00:23:12,840 Speaker 1: needed was a telephone in order to call Moscow, which 386 00:23:12,880 --> 00:23:15,800 Speaker 1: I just think is a great story. Meanwhile, over the 387 00:23:15,880 --> 00:23:20,880 Speaker 1: United States, there was the same rush to get to space, 388 00:23:21,040 --> 00:23:22,920 Speaker 1: and at that point it was a rush to catch 389 00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:25,280 Speaker 1: up to the Soviets because they had beaten America to 390 00:23:25,320 --> 00:23:29,000 Speaker 1: the punch. Engineers were already working on suit designs that 391 00:23:29,040 --> 00:23:31,560 Speaker 1: would be suitable to allow astronauts to go outside of 392 00:23:31,560 --> 00:23:35,200 Speaker 1: a spacecraft, perhaps even walking on the Moon. But these 393 00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:37,800 Speaker 1: were in the earliest stages of development. They were in 394 00:23:37,840 --> 00:23:41,520 Speaker 1: the prototype stage. And I saw pictures of one of 395 00:23:41,520 --> 00:23:44,800 Speaker 1: the early pressurized suits and it literally looked like it 396 00:23:44,840 --> 00:23:47,760 Speaker 1: came out of a Ed Wood science fiction film. If 397 00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:49,600 Speaker 1: you don't know who that is, Plan nine from Outer 398 00:23:49,600 --> 00:23:55,120 Speaker 1: Space director, just the cheesiest of nineteen fifty style sci 399 00:23:55,160 --> 00:23:59,320 Speaker 1: fi B movies. And the engineer inside the suit was 400 00:23:59,400 --> 00:24:02,320 Speaker 1: wearing it looked like kind of a metal barrel for 401 00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:06,080 Speaker 1: the torso, like think of like one of those ten 402 00:24:06,240 --> 00:24:08,480 Speaker 1: wind up robot toys. It kind of looked like that 403 00:24:08,640 --> 00:24:12,320 Speaker 1: had segmented sleeves that covered the arms, had a helmet 404 00:24:12,320 --> 00:24:14,199 Speaker 1: with a glass visor that looked kind of like the 405 00:24:14,240 --> 00:24:17,240 Speaker 1: head of a Lego figurine kind of had that cylindrical 406 00:24:17,280 --> 00:24:20,080 Speaker 1: look to it. They were a long way away from 407 00:24:20,160 --> 00:24:23,600 Speaker 1: the modern space suit, is what I'm saying. The Mercury seven, 408 00:24:23,840 --> 00:24:26,160 Speaker 1: the pilots suit trained to be part of Project Mercury, 409 00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:30,320 Speaker 1: which was our first attempt to send people to space, 410 00:24:30,880 --> 00:24:33,840 Speaker 1: relied upon a flight suit called the Navy Mark four, 411 00:24:34,119 --> 00:24:37,320 Speaker 1: which was designed by the BF good Rich Company. The 412 00:24:37,359 --> 00:24:39,439 Speaker 1: heritage for the Mark four had traced its history all 413 00:24:39,440 --> 00:24:42,000 Speaker 1: the way back to Wiley Post, whom I mentioned before 414 00:24:42,040 --> 00:24:45,240 Speaker 1: the break, and in fact they even had the same designer, 415 00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:47,640 Speaker 1: a guy named Russell Colly worked on both of those. 416 00:24:48,240 --> 00:24:51,080 Speaker 1: The suit had a zipper that extended from the left 417 00:24:51,280 --> 00:24:54,840 Speaker 1: shoulder and moved diagonally down across the torso and ended 418 00:24:54,880 --> 00:24:57,440 Speaker 1: at the waist. There are also a couple of other zippers. 419 00:24:57,560 --> 00:25:00,480 Speaker 1: There were two at the neck and one around the waist, 420 00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:04,480 Speaker 1: which made it quote unquote easier to get in and 421 00:25:04,520 --> 00:25:06,960 Speaker 1: out of the suit. But when I say easier, just 422 00:25:07,240 --> 00:25:10,879 Speaker 1: know that I don't mean easy, just easier than some 423 00:25:11,080 --> 00:25:14,840 Speaker 1: other one piece suits. The suit covered the entire body 424 00:25:14,920 --> 00:25:17,640 Speaker 1: except for the head and hands, which were covered by 425 00:25:17,680 --> 00:25:21,879 Speaker 1: a detachable helmet and gloves, respectively. So the boots were 426 00:25:21,880 --> 00:25:25,000 Speaker 1: built into it, but the gloves were not. The helmet 427 00:25:25,040 --> 00:25:29,000 Speaker 1: containing the microphones and speakers were there to serve as 428 00:25:29,200 --> 00:25:32,600 Speaker 1: a communication system for the astronauts. The visor was made 429 00:25:32,640 --> 00:25:35,640 Speaker 1: out of plexiglass. The visor could also be raised out 430 00:25:35,640 --> 00:25:38,159 Speaker 1: of the way or lowered into place and then sealed 431 00:25:38,200 --> 00:25:41,520 Speaker 1: with the pneumatic seal, so again it could provide a 432 00:25:41,560 --> 00:25:45,960 Speaker 1: pressurized environment for the astronauts if necessary. The gloves attached 433 00:25:46,040 --> 00:25:50,879 Speaker 1: to the suit through a tent ball bearing lock. I 434 00:25:50,960 --> 00:25:53,040 Speaker 1: do not know what that means. I mean, I know 435 00:25:53,080 --> 00:25:55,439 Speaker 1: it's a lock, but I haven't looked into how it 436 00:25:55,480 --> 00:25:58,280 Speaker 1: actually worked. But anyway, the purpose for it was to 437 00:25:58,320 --> 00:26:01,400 Speaker 1: give the astronauts a little bit more wrisk mobility when 438 00:26:01,520 --> 00:26:04,200 Speaker 1: come without you know, compromising the fact that you need 439 00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:07,119 Speaker 1: to have a seal there with the rest of the suit, 440 00:26:07,200 --> 00:26:10,720 Speaker 1: otherwise you would have a leak. Right. The index and 441 00:26:10,760 --> 00:26:13,880 Speaker 1: middle fingers on both gloves had little red lights incorporated 442 00:26:13,960 --> 00:26:17,360 Speaker 1: into them, and these were fed by batteries that were 443 00:26:17,400 --> 00:26:19,960 Speaker 1: located in a battery pack on the back side of 444 00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:23,919 Speaker 1: the gloves. The torso section had two major layers. The 445 00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:27,760 Speaker 1: inner layer was made of neoprene and nylon, and the 446 00:26:27,840 --> 00:26:32,520 Speaker 1: outer layer had an illuminized nylon fabric designed to reflect 447 00:26:32,560 --> 00:26:36,160 Speaker 1: heat away from the astronaut. You know, inside the suit, 448 00:26:37,640 --> 00:26:40,560 Speaker 1: a neck ring secured the helmet in place, with an 449 00:26:40,600 --> 00:26:44,040 Speaker 1: additional tied down strap to keep the helmet in place 450 00:26:44,200 --> 00:26:47,399 Speaker 1: so that should the suit be pressurized, the helmet wouldn't 451 00:26:47,480 --> 00:26:52,080 Speaker 1: rise up and block the astronaut's vision. Yeah, that's going 452 00:26:52,119 --> 00:26:54,159 Speaker 1: to become important because I'm going to talk about a 453 00:26:54,200 --> 00:26:57,800 Speaker 1: case where something like that happened to a Russian cosmonaut 454 00:26:57,800 --> 00:27:01,200 Speaker 1: and how it could have been disastrous. So this suit 455 00:27:01,359 --> 00:27:04,720 Speaker 1: used a pressurization system to keep pressure inside the suit 456 00:27:04,800 --> 00:27:08,600 Speaker 1: close to Earth levels. It also used cords on the 457 00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:11,800 Speaker 1: suit to restrict the suit's tendency to expand like a balloon, 458 00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:17,880 Speaker 1: which would severely limit maneuverability. The Mercury spacecraft itself was pressurized, 459 00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:21,040 Speaker 1: so the suits didn't have to be pressurized for normal operation, 460 00:27:21,560 --> 00:27:23,840 Speaker 1: and that made things a little bit easier for the 461 00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:27,520 Speaker 1: astronauts who were piloting the spacecraft because they didn't They 462 00:27:27,560 --> 00:27:32,040 Speaker 1: had a little more mobility, although they couldn't do much 463 00:27:32,119 --> 00:27:35,680 Speaker 1: with that mobility because they were in a tiny, tiny spacecraft. 464 00:27:35,680 --> 00:27:39,480 Speaker 1: It was only large enough for one person, and even 465 00:27:39,480 --> 00:27:42,879 Speaker 1: then it was cramped The suits also incorporated aluminium in 466 00:27:42,920 --> 00:27:46,040 Speaker 1: the materials. Like I mentioned, that provided extra strength compared 467 00:27:46,040 --> 00:27:48,560 Speaker 1: to earlier flight suits. But again, these suits were meant 468 00:27:48,560 --> 00:27:51,399 Speaker 1: to be worn inside the capsule only these were not 469 00:27:51,560 --> 00:27:54,680 Speaker 1: suits that could be worn out in space on their own. 470 00:27:54,960 --> 00:27:59,000 Speaker 1: They also didn't have good temperature control. Basically, the oxygen 471 00:27:59,040 --> 00:28:03,120 Speaker 1: system they had served as the cooling system. So basically 472 00:28:03,200 --> 00:28:06,919 Speaker 1: the way the oxygen system worked was that it had 473 00:28:08,200 --> 00:28:12,359 Speaker 1: a tube would attach to the suit at the waist 474 00:28:13,040 --> 00:28:16,399 Speaker 1: and oxygen would come in through that tube at the 475 00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:20,600 Speaker 1: wasst Oxygen would then circulate a bit through tubes running 476 00:28:20,640 --> 00:28:24,359 Speaker 1: inside the suit to help cool down the astronaut, and 477 00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:27,160 Speaker 1: then it would eventually make its way up to the helmet, 478 00:28:27,560 --> 00:28:31,639 Speaker 1: and then excess would exit out the right side of 479 00:28:31,640 --> 00:28:36,359 Speaker 1: the helmet into a different tube including carbon dioxide. There 480 00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:39,960 Speaker 1: was also some biosensors and a connector in the suit 481 00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:42,560 Speaker 1: to allow the suit to connect to the spacecraft's instruments 482 00:28:42,840 --> 00:28:47,520 Speaker 1: that would allow NASA to monitor astronaut vital signs and stuff. 483 00:28:47,800 --> 00:28:51,200 Speaker 1: On the left arm of the suit was a pressure indicator, 484 00:28:51,280 --> 00:28:53,920 Speaker 1: so that should the suit be pressurized, the astronaut would 485 00:28:53,920 --> 00:28:56,560 Speaker 1: be able to see what the pressure level was in 486 00:28:56,640 --> 00:29:01,640 Speaker 1: the suit pretty easily. And underneath all of this, the 487 00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:06,239 Speaker 1: astronauts wore a one piece lightweight cotton body suit, so 488 00:29:07,040 --> 00:29:10,960 Speaker 1: lots of layers here. Alan Shepard became the first American 489 00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:15,520 Speaker 1: to go to space one month after Gagarin's achievement. Shepherd's 490 00:29:15,640 --> 00:29:18,880 Speaker 1: flight was sub orbital, however, he did not go into orbit. 491 00:29:19,240 --> 00:29:21,480 Speaker 1: John Glenn would be the first American to orbit the 492 00:29:21,520 --> 00:29:25,160 Speaker 1: Earth in nineteen sixty two, and he completed three orbits 493 00:29:25,160 --> 00:29:28,520 Speaker 1: before returning back to Earth. Both Shepherd and Glenn wore 494 00:29:28,640 --> 00:29:32,160 Speaker 1: versions of the Mercury spacesuit. But let's hop back over 495 00:29:32,200 --> 00:29:34,960 Speaker 1: to the Soviet Union to talk about suits designed to 496 00:29:35,040 --> 00:29:38,720 Speaker 1: keep humans safe out in space itself without the benefits 497 00:29:38,760 --> 00:29:42,680 Speaker 1: of a having a spacecraft around you. So the Soviets 498 00:29:42,720 --> 00:29:44,680 Speaker 1: were the first to have a person take a trip 499 00:29:44,800 --> 00:29:48,480 Speaker 1: outside a spacecraft on a spacewalk, which happened in March 500 00:29:48,560 --> 00:29:52,720 Speaker 1: of nineteen sixty five. That person was Alexei Leonov. He 501 00:29:52,760 --> 00:29:57,400 Speaker 1: would have to enter an airlock and inflatable airlock. He 502 00:29:57,880 --> 00:30:01,560 Speaker 1: would then have that and he'd be in the airlock 503 00:30:01,600 --> 00:30:07,840 Speaker 1: while his co cosmonaut would release pressure so that there 504 00:30:07,880 --> 00:30:11,520 Speaker 1: could be an equalization of the lack of pressure out 505 00:30:11,520 --> 00:30:13,680 Speaker 1: in space and the air pressure that's inside the capsule, 506 00:30:14,040 --> 00:30:18,120 Speaker 1: and they could transfer outside of the Vokschad to spacecraft 507 00:30:18,640 --> 00:30:22,600 Speaker 1: and then spend a few minutes outside doing a spacewalk, 508 00:30:22,840 --> 00:30:25,600 Speaker 1: and he remained connected to the capsule by a tether, 509 00:30:25,760 --> 00:30:30,080 Speaker 1: so he wouldn't float off aimlessly into space, and the 510 00:30:30,120 --> 00:30:33,360 Speaker 1: Soviets would learn some pretty valuable lessons. Nearly at the 511 00:30:33,400 --> 00:30:37,160 Speaker 1: expense of Leonov's life. His spacesuit had been called the 512 00:30:37,200 --> 00:30:41,960 Speaker 1: Burcut spacesuit. Burcut was actually the name the spacecraft was 513 00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:44,640 Speaker 1: a Vakshod two, but it had the name of Burcut, 514 00:30:44,800 --> 00:30:49,800 Speaker 1: which means golden eagle, and his suit had a hermetic 515 00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:54,360 Speaker 1: casing layer on top of the pressurized space suit and 516 00:30:54,480 --> 00:30:58,600 Speaker 1: came complete with a shoulder pack in which the suits 517 00:30:58,640 --> 00:31:02,520 Speaker 1: two oxygen cylinders were mounted, so he was carrying his 518 00:31:02,600 --> 00:31:05,960 Speaker 1: oxygen to supply on his suit. This would be different 519 00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:09,920 Speaker 1: from the way the Americans would do it with Project 520 00:31:09,960 --> 00:31:14,120 Speaker 1: Gemini or Jiminy, if you prefer. It was really hard 521 00:31:14,120 --> 00:31:19,000 Speaker 1: to find any solid details about this suit, but there 522 00:31:19,040 --> 00:31:21,880 Speaker 1: are a few things I can say for sure. One 523 00:31:21,960 --> 00:31:26,400 Speaker 1: is that the spacesuit was really bulky even before going 524 00:31:26,440 --> 00:31:30,120 Speaker 1: into space, but once in space the suit became even bulkier, 525 00:31:30,440 --> 00:31:33,480 Speaker 1: so again, imagine being inside an inflated balloon, and he 526 00:31:33,520 --> 00:31:35,960 Speaker 1: started to get the picture. There was a lack of 527 00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:40,080 Speaker 1: pressure outside the suit, so the suit expanded in every direction. 528 00:31:40,640 --> 00:31:43,480 Speaker 1: That meant that Leonov found that his hands were no 529 00:31:43,560 --> 00:31:46,479 Speaker 1: longer securely in his gloves, like his fingers were no 530 00:31:46,520 --> 00:31:49,600 Speaker 1: longer in the fingertips of his gloves because the arms 531 00:31:49,720 --> 00:31:53,120 Speaker 1: of the spacesuit expanded beyond the length of his arms. 532 00:31:53,640 --> 00:31:55,800 Speaker 1: The same thing was happening with his feet, like his 533 00:31:55,840 --> 00:31:59,479 Speaker 1: feet were no longer firmly in the boot section of 534 00:31:59,520 --> 00:32:03,280 Speaker 1: his suit, and he was having issues seeing through the 535 00:32:03,360 --> 00:32:07,680 Speaker 1: helmet as well. That also meant that he would no 536 00:32:07,760 --> 00:32:10,600 Speaker 1: longer be able to go back into the spacecraft the 537 00:32:10,640 --> 00:32:14,040 Speaker 1: way they had trained, which was to go in through 538 00:32:14,640 --> 00:32:18,200 Speaker 1: the airlock feet first, So instead he had to figure 539 00:32:18,200 --> 00:32:20,760 Speaker 1: out a way to pull himself inside headfirst, and he 540 00:32:20,800 --> 00:32:22,840 Speaker 1: said it took a really long time, and he had 541 00:32:22,840 --> 00:32:25,600 Speaker 1: a limited amount of oxygen, about forty five minutes worth total. 542 00:32:27,280 --> 00:32:30,720 Speaker 1: He also started overheating. He found that the strain of 543 00:32:30,760 --> 00:32:34,680 Speaker 1: moving around inside the suit out in space was pretty intense, 544 00:32:34,760 --> 00:32:37,000 Speaker 1: and it was causing him to get really hot inside 545 00:32:37,040 --> 00:32:39,880 Speaker 1: the suit. The material of the suit was pretty stiff, 546 00:32:40,200 --> 00:32:43,760 Speaker 1: and due to the inflation issue, it meant that fighting 547 00:32:43,800 --> 00:32:47,480 Speaker 1: against the suit was necessary in order to get anything done. 548 00:32:47,480 --> 00:32:50,560 Speaker 1: He had to not just put forth effort to do 549 00:32:50,640 --> 00:32:53,560 Speaker 1: the thing, but to do the thing against the suit. 550 00:32:54,160 --> 00:32:56,560 Speaker 1: Even though he was only outside for a little bit, 551 00:32:56,600 --> 00:32:59,400 Speaker 1: he was still getting pretty exhausted. So in order to 552 00:32:59,400 --> 00:33:02,000 Speaker 1: make his way back back into the airlock, Leonov chose 553 00:33:02,040 --> 00:33:06,600 Speaker 1: to vent some of his oxygen out into space because 554 00:33:07,280 --> 00:33:10,320 Speaker 1: he needed to be able to regain some flexibility inside 555 00:33:10,320 --> 00:33:13,360 Speaker 1: a suit, and it's just fully inflated. He just didn't 556 00:33:13,360 --> 00:33:15,640 Speaker 1: have it. It makes me think of that bit in 557 00:33:15,680 --> 00:33:19,200 Speaker 1: a Christmas story where the kid can't put his arms 558 00:33:19,240 --> 00:33:22,800 Speaker 1: down because he's wrapped up in too many coats. So 559 00:33:22,880 --> 00:33:25,360 Speaker 1: this could have been disastrous, as if he had vented 560 00:33:25,400 --> 00:33:28,120 Speaker 1: too much oxygen out, he could have been starved of oxygen, 561 00:33:28,200 --> 00:33:31,000 Speaker 1: or he could have had a full depressurization of his suit, 562 00:33:32,840 --> 00:33:35,400 Speaker 1: or he could have just suffered the effects of depressurization, 563 00:33:35,520 --> 00:33:37,480 Speaker 1: kind of like the bends if you come up from 564 00:33:37,560 --> 00:33:40,240 Speaker 1: a deep sea dive too quickly. But he was able 565 00:33:40,320 --> 00:33:43,320 Speaker 1: to make it inside the airlock, then he had to 566 00:33:43,320 --> 00:33:46,400 Speaker 1: crunch up into essentially a fetal position so that he 567 00:33:46,400 --> 00:33:49,600 Speaker 1: could turn around, close the airlock and give the signal 568 00:33:49,640 --> 00:33:51,920 Speaker 1: to his commander to pressurize the airlock so that he 569 00:33:51,920 --> 00:33:54,680 Speaker 1: could come back inside the capsule. So this was just 570 00:33:54,720 --> 00:33:57,040 Speaker 1: one of several technical issues that plagued the mission. We'll 571 00:33:57,080 --> 00:33:59,600 Speaker 1: talk about another one in a little bit, but overall 572 00:33:59,760 --> 00:34:03,360 Speaker 1: the was a success and the cosmonauts returned to Earth safely. 573 00:34:03,880 --> 00:34:07,520 Speaker 1: Both the Soviets and Americans included survival kits in their 574 00:34:07,560 --> 00:34:12,720 Speaker 1: spacecraft for returning cosmonauts and returning astronauts to use because 575 00:34:12,800 --> 00:34:16,120 Speaker 1: in the early days, those space capsules were designed to 576 00:34:16,320 --> 00:34:20,480 Speaker 1: either splash down in the ocean, which was the American style, 577 00:34:21,239 --> 00:34:23,759 Speaker 1: or to have, you know, kind of a semi soft 578 00:34:23,840 --> 00:34:27,200 Speaker 1: landing on land, which was the preferred method of the Soviets. 579 00:34:27,760 --> 00:34:30,799 Speaker 1: But while both had some survival and first aid gear 580 00:34:30,800 --> 00:34:34,040 Speaker 1: inside these kits, the Soviets approach was slightly more intense 581 00:34:34,400 --> 00:34:39,320 Speaker 1: because the Soviet kit included a gun. Now the earlier 582 00:34:39,400 --> 00:34:42,440 Speaker 1: kits included a nine millimeters pistol, meant to serve as 583 00:34:42,480 --> 00:34:45,680 Speaker 1: some protection should the cosmonauts land in a remote region 584 00:34:45,719 --> 00:34:48,800 Speaker 1: in Russia and then need to fight off local wildlife, 585 00:34:48,800 --> 00:34:52,760 Speaker 1: which was a very real possibility. On the very mission 586 00:34:52,840 --> 00:34:56,720 Speaker 1: in which Leonov went on his spacewalk, the returning capsule 587 00:34:56,800 --> 00:35:01,440 Speaker 1: malfunctioned on descent and the cosmonauts had to rest control 588 00:35:01,880 --> 00:35:04,680 Speaker 1: from the landing process. They had to get manual control, 589 00:35:04,680 --> 00:35:08,480 Speaker 1: which was in itself an ordeal, and it meant that 590 00:35:08,640 --> 00:35:14,000 Speaker 1: ultimately they landed really far away from their target landing space, 591 00:35:14,080 --> 00:35:16,840 Speaker 1: and actually one hundred miles away from the closest city, 592 00:35:17,600 --> 00:35:21,080 Speaker 1: and they landed in a mountainous, snowy region, and Leonov 593 00:35:21,160 --> 00:35:24,600 Speaker 1: realized that his little nine millimeter pistol, while some comfort, 594 00:35:24,960 --> 00:35:26,760 Speaker 1: would be of little use of He and his fellow 595 00:35:26,760 --> 00:35:31,520 Speaker 1: cosmonaut Belyayev encountered wolves or a bear out in the wilderness, 596 00:35:31,520 --> 00:35:34,880 Speaker 1: which was a possibility, and so Leonov would later commission 597 00:35:34,920 --> 00:35:38,280 Speaker 1: the creation of a new weapon called the TP eighty 598 00:35:38,360 --> 00:35:42,800 Speaker 1: two pistol, which was part sawed off shotgun, part rifle. 599 00:35:43,280 --> 00:35:46,480 Speaker 1: So it it literally had three barrels, It had two 600 00:35:46,520 --> 00:35:49,480 Speaker 1: side by side shotgun barrels, and it had a rifle 601 00:35:49,520 --> 00:35:53,319 Speaker 1: barrel mounted below the shotgun barrels, and it was in 602 00:35:53,360 --> 00:35:56,840 Speaker 1: a pistol form factor, but I mean that pistol would 603 00:35:57,120 --> 00:35:59,319 Speaker 1: pack a heck of a kick, and it also had 604 00:35:59,360 --> 00:36:02,920 Speaker 1: a detachable stock that could convert into a machete, so, 605 00:36:03,040 --> 00:36:06,879 Speaker 1: you know, typical space stuff. The so used capsules used 606 00:36:06,880 --> 00:36:09,839 Speaker 1: by the Russian Space Agency carried a TP eighty two 607 00:36:09,840 --> 00:36:13,440 Speaker 1: aboard as recently as two thousand and seven, before the 608 00:36:13,520 --> 00:36:17,840 Speaker 1: Russians discontinued that practice, although they did use a different 609 00:36:17,840 --> 00:36:21,080 Speaker 1: weapon in its place. Some Russian crews choose not to 610 00:36:21,080 --> 00:36:23,440 Speaker 1: have a gun aboard at all, fearing that the presence 611 00:36:23,440 --> 00:36:26,399 Speaker 1: of a firearm can kind of make things tense out 612 00:36:26,400 --> 00:36:30,799 Speaker 1: in space. But yeah, interesting little side note there. Now, 613 00:36:30,800 --> 00:36:33,319 Speaker 1: when we come back, we'll continue down the path of 614 00:36:33,440 --> 00:36:36,760 Speaker 1: space suit evolution, but first let's take another quick break. 615 00:36:45,480 --> 00:36:49,120 Speaker 1: So Leonov took the first space walk in nineteen sixty five, 616 00:36:49,200 --> 00:36:51,359 Speaker 1: and in the process the Russians learned a lot about 617 00:36:51,400 --> 00:36:55,000 Speaker 1: the limitations of their spacesuits. In general, the American approach 618 00:36:55,040 --> 00:36:59,160 Speaker 1: put more emphasis on comfort and usability than the Russians did. 619 00:36:59,440 --> 00:37:02,360 Speaker 1: But the same time, the Russians managed to get to 620 00:37:02,440 --> 00:37:06,680 Speaker 1: those things first and the Americans didn't. So back to America. 621 00:37:06,880 --> 00:37:11,879 Speaker 1: Starting in nineteen sixty two, so before we had Leonov's spacewalk, 622 00:37:12,400 --> 00:37:16,040 Speaker 1: there was the launch of Project Gemini or Jeminy, depending 623 00:37:16,120 --> 00:37:20,080 Speaker 1: upon your preferred pronunciation. I preferred Gemini, but yeah, Jiminy 624 00:37:20,160 --> 00:37:23,040 Speaker 1: is pretty common when you listen to interviews of the time. 625 00:37:23,440 --> 00:37:27,800 Speaker 1: This was the first two astronaut capsule that the Americans used, 626 00:37:28,239 --> 00:37:30,600 Speaker 1: and there were a couple of different space suits that 627 00:37:30,600 --> 00:37:33,080 Speaker 1: were used in this project, one of which was designed 628 00:37:33,080 --> 00:37:36,920 Speaker 1: for extra vehicular activities or spacewalks. That one was called 629 00:37:36,960 --> 00:37:39,120 Speaker 1: the G four C. But first let's start with the 630 00:37:39,239 --> 00:37:43,320 Speaker 1: G one C. So NASA had to choose which spacesuit 631 00:37:43,360 --> 00:37:46,560 Speaker 1: designed to go with for their Gemini project, and since 632 00:37:46,600 --> 00:37:48,200 Speaker 1: one of the goals for that project was to have 633 00:37:48,239 --> 00:37:52,160 Speaker 1: and astronaut perform a spacewalk, this was a complex issue. 634 00:37:52,520 --> 00:37:55,840 Speaker 1: Astronaut Gus Grissom tested out a suit designed by the 635 00:37:56,000 --> 00:37:59,960 Speaker 1: David Clark Company, later designated as the G one SEA, 636 00:38:00,880 --> 00:38:04,000 Speaker 1: and it had two layers. It had an internal layer 637 00:38:04,040 --> 00:38:07,040 Speaker 1: made out of rubber and neoprene, and it had a 638 00:38:07,080 --> 00:38:11,759 Speaker 1: pressure bladder inside it for the G suit protection, and 639 00:38:11,800 --> 00:38:16,720 Speaker 1: then the outer layer was illuminized, similar to the kind 640 00:38:16,719 --> 00:38:20,120 Speaker 1: of material that the Project Mercury spacesuits used. The outer 641 00:38:20,200 --> 00:38:22,719 Speaker 1: layer was meant to resist the ballooning effect as well. 642 00:38:23,560 --> 00:38:25,840 Speaker 1: There was this suit, by the way, actually went to auction. 643 00:38:26,200 --> 00:38:28,520 Speaker 1: Sothabe's had an auction on it and it went for 644 00:38:28,640 --> 00:38:32,480 Speaker 1: nearly forty four thousand dollars. The Dave Clark Company then 645 00:38:32,520 --> 00:38:35,120 Speaker 1: made a follow up suit called the G two C. 646 00:38:35,880 --> 00:38:38,600 Speaker 1: This would actually serve as the prototype for the Gemini 647 00:38:38,719 --> 00:38:42,200 Speaker 1: spacesuit designs. None of them were flown. These were not 648 00:38:42,360 --> 00:38:45,000 Speaker 1: spacesuits that actually went to space, so they were more 649 00:38:45,000 --> 00:38:47,400 Speaker 1: like a proof of concept, and the company had to 650 00:38:47,440 --> 00:38:51,239 Speaker 1: make additional changes to address some issues and concerns with 651 00:38:51,320 --> 00:38:54,600 Speaker 1: a suit, like for example, there was a visor guard 652 00:38:54,719 --> 00:38:57,920 Speaker 1: on the helmet that made the helmet a bit bulkier, 653 00:38:57,960 --> 00:39:00,600 Speaker 1: and that in turn would make it harder for astronauts 654 00:39:00,640 --> 00:39:04,120 Speaker 1: to move through a spacecraft hatch, so that was one 655 00:39:04,200 --> 00:39:06,520 Speaker 1: of the things they had to address. The first suit 656 00:39:06,560 --> 00:39:09,239 Speaker 1: to actually see use in Project Gemini was the G 657 00:39:09,440 --> 00:39:12,360 Speaker 1: three C, and the G three C had six layers. 658 00:39:12,680 --> 00:39:16,120 Speaker 1: The innermost layer was the rubberized nylon bladder to help 659 00:39:16,160 --> 00:39:20,520 Speaker 1: provide pressure on extremities and prevent blackouts. All the other 660 00:39:20,600 --> 00:39:24,680 Speaker 1: layers were of materials called nylon and nomes, and the 661 00:39:24,760 --> 00:39:28,399 Speaker 1: suit's boots could actually be removed. These were not part 662 00:39:28,480 --> 00:39:31,080 Speaker 1: of the suit themselves. They could lock into place. The 663 00:39:31,120 --> 00:39:34,920 Speaker 1: helmet contained communications equipment, so it really was an evolution 664 00:39:35,080 --> 00:39:39,440 Speaker 1: of earlier suits. The G four C, the next one, 665 00:39:39,680 --> 00:39:42,040 Speaker 1: added a couple of extra layers on top of the 666 00:39:42,040 --> 00:39:44,919 Speaker 1: ones you found on the G three C, and these 667 00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:48,200 Speaker 1: layers were milar insulation, meant to help deal with those 668 00:39:48,239 --> 00:39:51,920 Speaker 1: extreme temperatures that you could encounter when you're out in space. 669 00:39:52,680 --> 00:39:55,160 Speaker 1: The pilot's version of the suit, because the pilot was 670 00:39:55,200 --> 00:39:58,320 Speaker 1: the person who would do the spacewalks, had a sun 671 00:39:58,400 --> 00:40:01,360 Speaker 1: visor as well. You could attached the sun visor to 672 00:40:01,400 --> 00:40:04,040 Speaker 1: the helmet. This would help protect the astronaut from the 673 00:40:04,040 --> 00:40:07,120 Speaker 1: bright rays of the sun because obviously there's no atmosphere, 674 00:40:07,320 --> 00:40:10,680 Speaker 1: so there's nothing there to diffuse that light. To supply 675 00:40:10,800 --> 00:40:14,040 Speaker 1: oxygen to the astronaut inside the suit, the suit actually 676 00:40:14,080 --> 00:40:17,160 Speaker 1: had a hose that connected back to the spacecraft, so 677 00:40:17,200 --> 00:40:19,600 Speaker 1: it didn't have its own on board oxygen. It had 678 00:40:19,640 --> 00:40:22,239 Speaker 1: to connect to the spacecraft when you were out doing 679 00:40:22,239 --> 00:40:25,759 Speaker 1: an EVA. The suit also relied upon air conditioning to 680 00:40:25,800 --> 00:40:29,520 Speaker 1: help manage temperatures, but the astronauts soon found that this 681 00:40:29,800 --> 00:40:33,319 Speaker 1: just wasn't cutting it. The air conditioning wasn't good enough 682 00:40:33,320 --> 00:40:37,520 Speaker 1: to help keep their body temperature low as extra vehicular 683 00:40:37,520 --> 00:40:41,200 Speaker 1: activities often caused a sharp increase in body temperature, and 684 00:40:41,239 --> 00:40:44,799 Speaker 1: not only would it was it uncomfortable, but then you know, 685 00:40:44,840 --> 00:40:48,560 Speaker 1: the astronaut would start sweating pretty badly and soon the 686 00:40:48,640 --> 00:40:50,480 Speaker 1: inside of their helmet would fog up, so it could 687 00:40:50,520 --> 00:40:53,160 Speaker 1: become a real risk. There were a couple of other 688 00:40:53,600 --> 00:40:56,319 Speaker 1: space suits in the Gemini line, with the G four 689 00:40:56,440 --> 00:41:00,480 Speaker 1: c AMU that stands for Astronaut Maneuvering Unit. There was 690 00:41:00,520 --> 00:41:03,000 Speaker 1: also the G five C which was designed to be 691 00:41:03,080 --> 00:41:06,799 Speaker 1: more easily removed. So NASA and the astronauts on the 692 00:41:06,800 --> 00:41:10,920 Speaker 1: Gemini flights experimented with the astronauts removing their spacesuits in 693 00:41:11,520 --> 00:41:14,040 Speaker 1: middle of a mission to see if they could operate 694 00:41:14,080 --> 00:41:19,320 Speaker 1: better within the confines of the capsule without those giant 695 00:41:19,360 --> 00:41:22,680 Speaker 1: suits on, and surprise, surprise, they found out that there 696 00:41:22,760 --> 00:41:25,400 Speaker 1: was a lot easier to do that, and so they 697 00:41:25,520 --> 00:41:28,759 Speaker 1: kind of made this determination that when you're not in 698 00:41:28,880 --> 00:41:32,040 Speaker 1: part of a critical phase of a mission, like if 699 00:41:32,080 --> 00:41:35,759 Speaker 1: you're not in the launch or return or you know, 700 00:41:35,880 --> 00:41:40,080 Speaker 1: things like that or docking, if it's just the normal operations, 701 00:41:40,560 --> 00:41:44,960 Speaker 1: then they could operate outside of these suits, which you know, 702 00:41:45,760 --> 00:41:49,920 Speaker 1: was a nice, nice decision. I guess the Russians similarly 703 00:41:49,960 --> 00:41:54,320 Speaker 1: flew several missions without having their cosmonauts wearing spacesuits inside 704 00:41:54,360 --> 00:41:58,080 Speaker 1: their spacecraft, but in nineteen seventy one, an accident happened 705 00:41:58,120 --> 00:42:02,239 Speaker 1: and a returning Soya's capsule d compressed, and all three 706 00:42:02,280 --> 00:42:06,040 Speaker 1: cosmonauts aboard the Soyu's capsule died because none of them 707 00:42:06,040 --> 00:42:10,520 Speaker 1: were wearing spacesuits. The Soya's capsule itself wasn't even really 708 00:42:10,520 --> 00:42:14,960 Speaker 1: accommodating spacesuits. It wasn't designed to accommodate people, because obviously 709 00:42:15,000 --> 00:42:16,520 Speaker 1: when you're wearing a space suit, you're taking up a 710 00:42:16,560 --> 00:42:20,080 Speaker 1: lot more well space. But this prompted the Soviet Union 711 00:42:20,120 --> 00:42:23,840 Speaker 1: to develop a new emergency recovery spacesuit called the Sokol 712 00:42:24,400 --> 00:42:28,080 Speaker 1: Sokol and that has been in use since nineteen seventy 713 00:42:28,080 --> 00:42:32,080 Speaker 1: three on Russian space flights. The Gemini spacesuit was meant 714 00:42:32,080 --> 00:42:35,040 Speaker 1: to serve as a transition to Apollo missions, as well 715 00:42:35,520 --> 00:42:38,799 Speaker 1: as the A one CA spacesuit based off the G 716 00:42:39,000 --> 00:42:42,239 Speaker 1: four C. Gemini suit was intended for the first block 717 00:42:42,280 --> 00:42:46,000 Speaker 1: of Apollo missions, but tragically, what would later be designated 718 00:42:46,000 --> 00:42:50,400 Speaker 1: Apollo one ended in catastrophe when during a launch test, 719 00:42:50,719 --> 00:42:53,320 Speaker 1: a fire broke out in the crew cabin and killed 720 00:42:53,360 --> 00:42:56,480 Speaker 1: all three members of that mission. The rest of that 721 00:42:56,520 --> 00:42:59,680 Speaker 1: phase of the Apollo mission, which was collectively referred to 722 00:42:59,680 --> 00:43:03,480 Speaker 1: as Black, was canceled, so the A one C never 723 00:43:03,719 --> 00:43:07,120 Speaker 1: saw any use out in space. The second block of 724 00:43:07,160 --> 00:43:11,480 Speaker 1: Apollo missions would need suits designed for extra vehicular activity, 725 00:43:11,920 --> 00:43:16,400 Speaker 1: and this would end up being a really big move 726 00:43:16,680 --> 00:43:18,879 Speaker 1: in NASA's history and a really big move in the 727 00:43:18,920 --> 00:43:22,400 Speaker 1: history of space suits. That is where we're going to 728 00:43:22,440 --> 00:43:26,359 Speaker 1: pick up with the next episode in this series. We'll 729 00:43:26,400 --> 00:43:29,360 Speaker 1: pick up with the creation of the Apollo space suits. 730 00:43:29,680 --> 00:43:34,960 Speaker 1: We'll talk about the issues of what happens when you 731 00:43:35,000 --> 00:43:38,360 Speaker 1: go from flying very short space missions to very long 732 00:43:38,440 --> 00:43:43,880 Speaker 1: space missions aboard spacecraft that do not yet have a toilet, 733 00:43:45,000 --> 00:43:48,560 Speaker 1: because that was a thing. In other words, the next 734 00:43:48,600 --> 00:43:50,799 Speaker 1: episode is going to be growedy, y'all. It's going to 735 00:43:50,800 --> 00:43:54,160 Speaker 1: be gross to the max, so I hope you join 736 00:43:54,239 --> 00:43:57,000 Speaker 1: me for that one. But we'll also talk about how 737 00:43:57,000 --> 00:43:59,680 Speaker 1: the space suit evolved further, what it was like during 738 00:43:59,719 --> 00:44:03,880 Speaker 1: these Space Shuttle era and why NASA was looking to 739 00:44:04,000 --> 00:44:07,560 Speaker 1: update it because really spacesuits had not received a massive 740 00:44:07,640 --> 00:44:11,160 Speaker 1: update since the Space Shuttle era. But that'll all come 741 00:44:11,200 --> 00:44:13,960 Speaker 1: in our next episode. If you have suggestions for topics 742 00:44:13,960 --> 00:44:16,640 Speaker 1: I should cover in future episodes of tech Stuff, please 743 00:44:16,719 --> 00:44:19,239 Speaker 1: reach out to me and let me know what those are. 744 00:44:19,320 --> 00:44:21,280 Speaker 1: The best way to do that is over on Twitter. 745 00:44:21,480 --> 00:44:25,680 Speaker 1: The handle for the show is tech Stuffs HSW and 746 00:44:25,760 --> 00:44:34,360 Speaker 1: I'll talk to you again really soon. Tech Stuff is 747 00:44:34,360 --> 00:44:38,920 Speaker 1: an iHeartRadio production. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the 748 00:44:38,960 --> 00:44:42,600 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 749 00:44:42,640 --> 00:44:47,200 Speaker 1: favorite shows.