WEBVTT - The Shuttle Space Suits and Beyond 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tex Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:12.119 --> 0:00:14.960 Hey there, and welcome to tex Stuff. I'm your host 0:00:15.120 --> 0:00:18.000 job than Strickland. I'm an executive producer with iHeart Radio 0:00:18.040 --> 0:00:21.160 and I love all Things sech And we are continuing 0:00:21.239 --> 0:00:25.400 our series about space suits and their evolution. So the 0:00:25.480 --> 0:00:29.600 last episode we really focused on the suits used in 0:00:29.640 --> 0:00:32.559 the Apollo missions. We also talked a lot about pooping 0:00:32.560 --> 0:00:36.280 in space, which I felt was necessary to talk about. 0:00:36.320 --> 0:00:40.280 It's also necessary to do sometimes, and those Apollo space 0:00:40.280 --> 0:00:42.600 which actually did change a bit over time. I'll talk 0:00:42.640 --> 0:00:45.239 a little bit about that in this episode, because the 0:00:45.280 --> 0:00:47.720 suits that were used in the final missions were a 0:00:47.720 --> 0:00:51.440 little different from the earlier ones, but overall they were 0:00:51.640 --> 0:00:54.200 mostly kept to the same design once you got to 0:00:55.120 --> 0:00:59.240 the block to Apollo missions after the canceled Block one design. 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:03.400 And now we're going to talk a bit about the 0:01:03.480 --> 0:01:06.480 p l s S, which, depending upon what source you're reading, 0:01:06.480 --> 0:01:10.080 either stands for portable life support system or primary life 0:01:10.080 --> 0:01:13.600 support system, but in the case of Apollo, it really 0:01:13.600 --> 0:01:16.640 means the backpack. This is the life support system that 0:01:16.720 --> 0:01:20.000 attached to the suit and allowed astronauts like Neil Armstrong 0:01:20.080 --> 0:01:23.480 to you know, gallivan around on the Moon without being 0:01:23.480 --> 0:01:27.160 connected by a life support umbilical tether to you know, 0:01:27.240 --> 0:01:31.480 like the lunar module. The p l S S would 0:01:31.480 --> 0:01:35.000 provide the pressurization needed inside the suit as well as 0:01:35.040 --> 0:01:39.000 the oxygen that the astronauts breathe. The ability to scrub 0:01:39.080 --> 0:01:41.920 c O two from the suit also very important, and 0:01:41.959 --> 0:01:44.720 it also acted as a cooling system to help with 0:01:44.800 --> 0:01:49.520 temperature control with the water cooling. So in addition, astronauts 0:01:49.560 --> 0:01:53.400 on the Moon also had an Oxygen Purge System or OPS, 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:57.440 which stood in as an emergency backup should the p 0:01:57.720 --> 0:02:01.000 l s S fail. So while it's as oxygen purge 0:02:01.000 --> 0:02:02.840 system and it makes it sound like you're getting rid 0:02:02.880 --> 0:02:06.800 of all your oxygen, it was a secondary oxygen source, 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:09.640 but it only gave the astronauts really enough time to 0:02:09.680 --> 0:02:12.239 be able to return to the lunar module and then 0:02:12.639 --> 0:02:16.080 connect their suits back to the module's life support system 0:02:16.120 --> 0:02:19.239 if things really went you know, pear shaped. The p 0:02:19.680 --> 0:02:22.839 L S S started off in development in nineteen six one, 0:02:22.919 --> 0:02:25.760 nearly a decade before one would be used on the Moon, 0:02:26.320 --> 0:02:29.520 and that was necessary because we were learning so much 0:02:29.560 --> 0:02:32.160 about what would be needed in order to make a 0:02:32.160 --> 0:02:36.960 Moon mission successful. So while development was begun back then, 0:02:38.000 --> 0:02:40.240 a lot of the stuff we learned would mean we'd 0:02:40.240 --> 0:02:43.680 have to change designs. For one thing, engineers learned that 0:02:43.800 --> 0:02:47.799 the metabolic requirements to get stuff done in space were 0:02:47.800 --> 0:02:52.680 really way higher than what was initially estimated, which meant 0:02:52.800 --> 0:02:55.600 astronauts were having to put forth a lot more effort 0:02:56.120 --> 0:02:59.440 than was originally guessed, and that meant that the life 0:02:59.440 --> 0:03:01.840 support says STEMS would need to keep up with that 0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:05.000 in order to supply the necessary oxygen and keep the 0:03:05.040 --> 0:03:09.720 astronauts body temperature at an acceptable level. But how do 0:03:09.760 --> 0:03:13.360 you cool off the water circulating through the suit. If 0:03:13.400 --> 0:03:17.400 you remember, a an inner layer of the suit had 0:03:17.600 --> 0:03:21.320 plastic tubes essentially through which water would run and carry 0:03:21.400 --> 0:03:23.760 body heat away. Well, you've got to get rid of 0:03:23.760 --> 0:03:26.040 that heat, right, you have to have some sort of 0:03:26.080 --> 0:03:29.079 heat exchange in order for the water to cool down again. 0:03:29.360 --> 0:03:33.079 Otherwise eventually you're just going to be running body temperature 0:03:33.960 --> 0:03:37.280 level water or hotter through the suit, and that doesn't 0:03:37.400 --> 0:03:41.640 help you with maintaining a right temperature. Well, in this case, 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:45.000 the answer ended up being a plate that to the 0:03:45.080 --> 0:03:48.840 naked eye seemed like it was a solid plate, but 0:03:48.920 --> 0:03:52.920 in fact it had microscopic pours in that plate, so 0:03:53.120 --> 0:03:56.200 warm water from the cooling system would fill up those 0:03:56.240 --> 0:03:58.600 pores just a little bit, not a whole lot of water, 0:03:59.280 --> 0:04:01.720 and then it would just boil off into space. And 0:04:01.760 --> 0:04:06.240 because boiling is an endothermic reaction, it actually carried heat 0:04:06.360 --> 0:04:10.120 away from the system, and that would cool the water 0:04:10.360 --> 0:04:13.400 that remained, uh, and some of that water would just 0:04:13.520 --> 0:04:17.960 freeze in those pores, effectively sealing the pores. But then 0:04:18.320 --> 0:04:21.560 this water would get warmed by the cooling system or 0:04:21.600 --> 0:04:25.679 the gas circulating system, and the process would repeat itself, 0:04:26.000 --> 0:04:28.640 and it would continuously cool as long as you had 0:04:28.760 --> 0:04:30.840 enough water running in the system, and you weren't losing 0:04:30.880 --> 0:04:34.000 a ton of it, you know, all at once or anything. 0:04:34.000 --> 0:04:36.159 It was little bits, so it could run for a 0:04:36.160 --> 0:04:40.880 while before being depleted. The invention would end up being 0:04:40.960 --> 0:04:44.600 used in many future space technologies, including the International Space Station, 0:04:44.720 --> 0:04:48.080 so not just for space suits. Now, I mentioned that 0:04:48.160 --> 0:04:51.800 the p LSS had an oxygen supply, which is obviously 0:04:51.839 --> 0:04:54.760 a necessary component for a life support system for a 0:04:54.880 --> 0:04:58.560 human being, and this was pure oxygen as opposed to 0:04:58.640 --> 0:05:01.400 the mix of gases that we breathe here on Earth. 0:05:01.760 --> 0:05:06.240 A typical lungfull down here on the planet is nitrogen 0:05:06.720 --> 0:05:11.640 twenty one oxygen and then everything else like argonne, carbon dioxide, 0:05:12.120 --> 0:05:14.320 and some trace elements. All of that is less than 0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:19.080 a percentage point each. However, in a low pressure environment, 0:05:19.680 --> 0:05:23.320 going with this kind of mixture could lead to a 0:05:23.480 --> 0:05:29.400 dangerous situation in which you don't have enough of a 0:05:29.480 --> 0:05:33.520 concentration of O two in the astronauts lungs and their blood. 0:05:34.120 --> 0:05:37.400 So most space life support systems actually rely on a 0:05:37.440 --> 0:05:41.760 supply of pure oxygen instead. Oh an interesting fact, the 0:05:41.920 --> 0:05:46.599 Space Shuttle and the International Space Station have or you know, 0:05:46.640 --> 0:05:49.960 in the case of the Space Shuttle had internal atmospheres 0:05:50.320 --> 0:05:54.640 that mirrored Earth's atmospheres, and for that reason, astronauts dawning 0:05:54.800 --> 0:05:57.359 spacesuits for a n e v A first had to 0:05:57.440 --> 0:06:01.920 engage in a bit of pre breathe the activity, which 0:06:01.960 --> 0:06:03.920 is somewhat confusing, right, I mean, it's a weird thing 0:06:04.000 --> 0:06:06.440 to say, but what it means is that they had 0:06:06.480 --> 0:06:10.640 to strap on a mask and breathe pure oxygen for 0:06:11.360 --> 0:06:14.000 like a period of like four hours in some cases 0:06:14.560 --> 0:06:17.400 before getting into the space suit and relying on the 0:06:17.440 --> 0:06:21.160 spacesuits life support system. And the whole reason for doing 0:06:21.200 --> 0:06:23.920 that was to have a gradual process to remove nitrogen 0:06:24.000 --> 0:06:27.160 from the astronauts blood, which in turn would reduce the 0:06:27.240 --> 0:06:30.479 chance that the astronaut would get the bends once heading 0:06:30.480 --> 0:06:33.480 into the low pressure environment of outer space, just like 0:06:33.800 --> 0:06:35.599 you would see with someone who is you know, deep 0:06:35.640 --> 0:06:38.279 sea diving. All right, tangent over, let's get back to 0:06:38.320 --> 0:06:40.520 the p l s S. Well, it turns out that 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:43.000 we humans, you know, we breathe an oxygen and we 0:06:43.080 --> 0:06:46.479 breathe out carbon dioxide among some other stuff. It's not 0:06:46.520 --> 0:06:49.800 just pure CEO two. And if we have a significant 0:06:49.880 --> 0:06:52.359 build up of c O two in our environment, and 0:06:52.360 --> 0:06:55.320 by significant I mean if CEO two levels rise up 0:06:55.360 --> 0:06:58.760 to be about eight percent of what we're breathing, well 0:06:58.920 --> 0:07:01.760 we can't breathe proper. Really it actually it becomes toxic, 0:07:01.920 --> 0:07:05.000 and obviously that's a problem, potentially a deadly one. So 0:07:05.160 --> 0:07:07.159 there had to be a way to remove c O 0:07:07.279 --> 0:07:10.640 two from the suit. So you can think of it 0:07:11.040 --> 0:07:15.000 as there being one port into which pure oxygen flows in, 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:19.040 and there's another port where c O two, mix of 0:07:19.080 --> 0:07:21.360 c O two and other stuff could exit the suit. 0:07:21.960 --> 0:07:24.440 And then you would have a scrubbing system consisting of 0:07:24.480 --> 0:07:28.520 tanks holding a substance called lithium hydrox side and that 0:07:28.520 --> 0:07:30.920 would do the job of scrubbing CEO two. You see, 0:07:31.760 --> 0:07:34.360 c O two and lithium hydrox side have a chemical 0:07:34.400 --> 0:07:39.560 reaction together that produces water and lithium carbonate, and it's 0:07:39.600 --> 0:07:42.080 pretty darn good at it. You don't need a whole 0:07:42.240 --> 0:07:46.320 lot of uh this, you know, lithium hydroxide to do 0:07:46.400 --> 0:07:48.400 the job to remove a good amount of c O 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:52.320 two from space. So that's good from a space saving 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:55.720 and a weight saving standpoint. So a lot of space 0:07:55.720 --> 0:08:00.160 suits and spacecraft use canisters of lithium hydroxide in or 0:08:00.200 --> 0:08:02.640 to remove CEO two from the environment, and then the 0:08:02.680 --> 0:08:05.880 water from that process can be used in other functions, 0:08:05.880 --> 0:08:09.760 either like drinking water or an oxygen generator or even 0:08:09.800 --> 0:08:13.080 you know, the water cooling system and the p l 0:08:13.320 --> 0:08:16.080 s s would also connect through the suit using multiple 0:08:16.120 --> 0:08:19.320 connectors so that everything could work in harmony with each other. 0:08:19.440 --> 0:08:23.640 So obviously like the suit had connectors that docked with 0:08:23.720 --> 0:08:26.760 the p LSS to allow the functions to go through. 0:08:26.920 --> 0:08:29.560 For example, in order to have an effective cooling system, 0:08:29.680 --> 0:08:32.720 you had to connect the water lines in the LCG suit, 0:08:32.760 --> 0:08:36.040 which remember is underneath all these other layers with the 0:08:36.040 --> 0:08:39.679 p l S S, and that meant that you had 0:08:39.720 --> 0:08:42.520 to have these these special things built in so that 0:08:42.559 --> 0:08:46.040 you had these connections without obviously making any weakness points 0:08:46.080 --> 0:08:49.560 in the suit. So NASA developed special connectors that would 0:08:49.559 --> 0:08:52.240 allow this to happen without causing a breach in the system. 0:08:52.360 --> 0:08:55.080 Pretty ingenious really, to have everything hook up like this. 0:08:55.920 --> 0:08:58.720 The suit and p L S S continued to evolve 0:08:58.760 --> 0:09:02.000 over the course of the Apollomys, with later missions taking 0:09:02.040 --> 0:09:05.439 advantage of lessons learned from the earlier ones, and sometimes 0:09:06.000 --> 0:09:10.160 those plans had to change in the process. So, for example, 0:09:10.559 --> 0:09:13.599 while the world marveled at the successful moon landing of 0:09:13.640 --> 0:09:17.280 Apollo eleven, NASA was already planning ahead to create systems 0:09:17.280 --> 0:09:20.680 that would allow for longer operation on the Moon, which 0:09:20.679 --> 0:09:25.160 obviously necessitated more consideration for life support, and to that end, 0:09:25.320 --> 0:09:27.720 they planned to make p L S S units that 0:09:27.720 --> 0:09:32.800 could provide life support functions for longer durations. However, budget 0:09:32.840 --> 0:09:36.599 constraints meant that some of those plans got cut that 0:09:36.679 --> 0:09:39.800 couldn't afford to do all of them. What was to 0:09:39.840 --> 0:09:44.880 be a larger secondary life support system got scrapped because 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:47.240 there just wasn't money in the budget to have that 0:09:47.400 --> 0:09:50.480 so what takes its place. Well, it was what was 0:09:50.520 --> 0:09:53.960 called a buddy life support system or b l s S, 0:09:54.440 --> 0:09:56.880 and I bet you can figure out immediately what that means. 0:09:57.160 --> 0:10:00.199 It would allow for someone who had a working life 0:10:00.200 --> 0:10:04.319 support system to connect their suit directly to a second 0:10:04.360 --> 0:10:09.319 astronaut who perhaps had a depleted or malfunctioning p LSS, 0:10:09.760 --> 0:10:12.200 and then the two astronauts could then make their way 0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:14.840 back to the spacecraft, where they would hook into the 0:10:14.880 --> 0:10:18.360 spacecraft's life support system. It kind of makes me think 0:10:18.720 --> 0:10:21.880 of drills in which two scuba divers would share the 0:10:21.920 --> 0:10:25.560 same scuba tank between them in the event of one 0:10:25.600 --> 0:10:29.360 scuba divers tank running out of oxygen or otherwise malfunctioning. 0:10:29.960 --> 0:10:33.640 While astronauts on Apollo missions fourteen through seventeen had the 0:10:33.679 --> 0:10:37.960 system available, fortunately there was never a need to actually 0:10:38.360 --> 0:10:42.360 use it. So the buddy system existed, but no one 0:10:42.400 --> 0:10:44.520 ever had to take advantage of it. It was kind 0:10:44.520 --> 0:10:47.880 of they're just in case now. The last Apollo mission 0:10:48.400 --> 0:10:52.480 of the actual Apollo program had the designation Apollo seventeen 0:10:52.960 --> 0:10:57.120 and was in December of nineteen two. Following that, NASA 0:10:57.200 --> 0:11:01.120 focused on the first American laboratory in orbit around Earth, 0:11:01.160 --> 0:11:04.040 which had the name sky Lab, and in order to 0:11:04.200 --> 0:11:07.120 get stuff, you know, to and from sky Lab, they 0:11:07.160 --> 0:11:11.400 relied upon unused Apollo capsules And I'll have to do 0:11:11.440 --> 0:11:14.080 a full episode about sky Lab in the future. But 0:11:14.280 --> 0:11:18.600 the suits that astronauts wore while aboard sky Lab were 0:11:19.280 --> 0:11:21.440 very similar to the ones that were using the final 0:11:21.520 --> 0:11:25.680 three Apollo missions, called the A seven lb pressure suit. 0:11:26.200 --> 0:11:28.760 The one that Neil Armstrong wore back in Apollo eleven 0:11:28.800 --> 0:11:30.800 was the A seven L, so that one did not 0:11:30.920 --> 0:11:33.760 have the B attached to it, and the Skylab version 0:11:33.840 --> 0:11:36.640 had an extra thermal garment as part of the suit. 0:11:37.280 --> 0:11:41.920 The lunar landing versions of the A seven lb allowed 0:11:41.960 --> 0:11:45.480 for greater mobility and were designed so that astronauts could 0:11:45.520 --> 0:11:49.160 conduct more extensive missions on the Moon's surface, including using 0:11:49.240 --> 0:11:53.320 the lunar rover vehicle, So the suit had to have 0:11:53.440 --> 0:11:58.000 greater flexibility than the older A seven L suits, including 0:11:58.040 --> 0:12:02.000 additional joints built into the suits to allow astronauts to actually, 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:05.360 you know, sit on a rover and putter around on 0:12:05.400 --> 0:12:07.839 the Moon's surface. It actually kind of makes me think 0:12:07.880 --> 0:12:11.040 of action figures, like there were different types like g 0:12:11.200 --> 0:12:14.720 I Joe action figures had joints at the elbow and knee, 0:12:14.880 --> 0:12:17.240 so you could bend the arms and bend the legs. 0:12:17.280 --> 0:12:20.600 As opposed to action figures from like the original Star 0:12:20.640 --> 0:12:23.800 Wars action figures, they had no joints at the elbows 0:12:23.880 --> 0:12:26.839 or knees, so they had very stiff armed and stiff 0:12:26.920 --> 0:12:30.600 legged movements. Kind of similar to that. These joints were 0:12:30.600 --> 0:12:33.240 made out of molded rubber, kind of like a like 0:12:33.280 --> 0:12:37.079 a bellows almost, and you could find them at the shoulders, 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:40.000 the elbows, the hips, and the knees. The p l 0:12:40.240 --> 0:12:42.800 s s could supply up to seven hours of life 0:12:42.800 --> 0:12:45.480 support towards the end of the Apollo program, allowing for 0:12:45.520 --> 0:12:49.520 pretty extensive e v A s. The versions worn inside 0:12:50.040 --> 0:12:53.280 the spacecraft and the type Warren and sky Lab were 0:12:53.320 --> 0:12:56.800 not quite as fancy as the lunar versions. NASA chose 0:12:56.840 --> 0:12:59.160 to go with a design for sky Lab that would 0:12:59.160 --> 0:13:03.320 require astronaut to actually be tethered to the Skylab facility 0:13:03.360 --> 0:13:06.040 for life support functions during any sort of e v A, 0:13:06.120 --> 0:13:09.360 so you had that umbilical back to the spacecraft if 0:13:09.400 --> 0:13:11.240 you were doing an e v A at sky Lab 0:13:11.679 --> 0:13:15.400 instead of carrying you know, your own portable life support unit. 0:13:15.960 --> 0:13:19.280 This necessitated a redesign of the front of the suit 0:13:19.320 --> 0:13:22.560 in order to accommodate the umbilical tether in a way 0:13:22.559 --> 0:13:25.120 that wouldn't get in the in the way of the astronaut. Right, 0:13:25.160 --> 0:13:27.720 so you think about it, if you have a hose 0:13:27.800 --> 0:13:30.360 connected to your chest, you wanted to be in a 0:13:30.440 --> 0:13:32.040 spot where it's not going to get in the way 0:13:32.040 --> 0:13:34.679 of your arms if you have to do intricate work 0:13:34.720 --> 0:13:38.440 on say a spacecraft. Um, so, yeah, this was a 0:13:38.440 --> 0:13:41.520 bit of a redesign, and the astronauts would connect the 0:13:41.559 --> 0:13:43.840 other end of the tether to a life support panel 0:13:43.920 --> 0:13:47.960 inside the airlock of Skylab before depressurization. And while you 0:13:48.000 --> 0:13:50.400 could have more than one astronaut go on an e 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:54.120 v A at once at sky Lab, typically they would 0:13:54.200 --> 0:13:57.600 each connect to their own panel as opposed to sharing 0:13:57.600 --> 0:14:00.720 a panel. The panel had multiple out puts, so you 0:14:00.760 --> 0:14:03.840 could connect more than one tether to a panel, but 0:14:04.000 --> 0:14:08.440 generally speaking, that's not how the astronauts operated. The astronauts 0:14:08.480 --> 0:14:12.000 did have a half hour supply of pure oxygen on 0:14:12.360 --> 0:14:15.840 their suit, just as an emergency backup if for some 0:14:15.920 --> 0:14:19.480 reason the life support connection to the spacecraft had failed. 0:14:20.040 --> 0:14:23.040 The suits had a few other differences from the Apollo versions. 0:14:23.080 --> 0:14:26.040 For one, they had more zippers to allow for easier 0:14:26.120 --> 0:14:29.080 dawning and daffing of the suits and zero g uh. 0:14:29.240 --> 0:14:32.240 That did come at the cost of some mobility, but 0:14:32.480 --> 0:14:35.920 since the Skylab astronauts wouldn't be going on joy rides 0:14:35.960 --> 0:14:38.720 on the lunar rover, it didn't matter as much to 0:14:38.800 --> 0:14:40.520 NASA that they wouldn't be able to, you know, like 0:14:40.560 --> 0:14:43.640 bend at the waist. They also had fewer layers of 0:14:43.720 --> 0:14:46.720 thermal protection than the Apollo suits. They were using slightly 0:14:46.760 --> 0:14:51.240 different materials in a new arrangement that still provided thermal protection, 0:14:51.320 --> 0:14:53.440 so it's not like they got rid of it, they 0:14:53.480 --> 0:14:55.720 just found a more efficient way of doing it without 0:14:55.760 --> 0:14:59.400 needing as many layers of material. There were only three 0:14:59.600 --> 0:15:03.760 crew as in a cruise people going on them. Skyline 0:15:03.800 --> 0:15:06.320 missions are only three they had astronauts actually go to 0:15:06.360 --> 0:15:09.960 sky Lab, with the first one in May nineteen seventy three. 0:15:10.120 --> 0:15:12.840 The last one happened in November nineteen seventy three to 0:15:12.960 --> 0:15:17.400 February nineteen seventy four. Nine astronauts would visit the sky 0:15:17.480 --> 0:15:22.120 Lab Across all three of these missions, divided up between 0:15:22.120 --> 0:15:26.200 the three. That is, so three astronauts per mission Across 0:15:26.280 --> 0:15:29.120 these three missions, astronauts spent a total of a hundred 0:15:29.120 --> 0:15:32.160 seventy one days aboard sky Lab. The longest of the 0:15:32.160 --> 0:15:36.040 three missions was for eighty four days. The cruise traveled 0:15:36.080 --> 0:15:38.920 to and from Skylab. As I said, with repurposed Apollo 0:15:39.040 --> 0:15:43.720 command modules on repurposed launch vehicles that you know, we're 0:15:43.760 --> 0:15:46.680 meant for the Apollo program. But the Apollo program ended 0:15:46.920 --> 0:15:49.560 and they still had these, so they're like, well, let's 0:15:49.640 --> 0:15:53.360 use them, um, and so the Apollo capsule, the command 0:15:53.480 --> 0:15:56.720 capsule would dock at one end of the sky Lab. Clearly, 0:15:56.760 --> 0:15:58.800 they didn't have the lunar module, there was no need 0:15:58.840 --> 0:16:02.640 for that, so that part was not attached to the spacecraft. Interestingly, 0:16:03.040 --> 0:16:06.760 the living quarters of sky Lab were palatial compared to 0:16:06.800 --> 0:16:11.200 the Apollo capsule. Astronauts actually, we're using a converted fuel 0:16:11.240 --> 0:16:15.640 tank of a Saturn S for b rocket stage to 0:16:15.720 --> 0:16:18.800 act as their living quarters, which meant that they had 0:16:18.800 --> 0:16:22.680 an internal space of twelve thousand, seven hundred fifty cubic 0:16:22.840 --> 0:16:26.520 feet or three hundred sixty one cubic meters of space. 0:16:26.800 --> 0:16:30.360 The Apollo capsule was just two hundred eighteen cubic feet 0:16:30.440 --> 0:16:34.160 or six point one seven cubic meters, so an enormous difference. 0:16:34.320 --> 0:16:36.320 I imagine that when it came time to, you know, 0:16:36.480 --> 0:16:39.520 use the bathroom, it was a lot easier to get 0:16:39.560 --> 0:16:43.040 some space between you and the other astronauts. After that, 0:16:43.680 --> 0:16:46.360 the Soviets were the only people sending crews up into 0:16:46.400 --> 0:16:50.800 space using the Soyuz capsule. In nine, the Soviet Union 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:54.600 and America conducted some joint missions, with the Soviets in 0:16:54.600 --> 0:16:57.840 a Soyuz capsule and the Americans were in the final 0:16:57.960 --> 0:17:02.480 Apollo capsule and the two spacecraft docked with each other 0:17:02.560 --> 0:17:05.879 in orbit. The two crews worked together on several experiments 0:17:06.200 --> 0:17:10.600 before the spacecraft separated and they both returned to Earth safely. 0:17:11.080 --> 0:17:15.320 So this was the Apollo Soyu's mission, not officially part 0:17:15.320 --> 0:17:19.160 of the Apollo program, but using the final Apollo capsule, 0:17:19.720 --> 0:17:22.160 and then the United States kind of hit a dry spell. 0:17:22.560 --> 0:17:25.959 The Soviets continued to launch Soyu's capsules into space, working 0:17:25.960 --> 0:17:29.679 on small Soviet space stations under the name Salute, but 0:17:29.840 --> 0:17:33.280 for the USA the crude missions would be on hold 0:17:33.320 --> 0:17:36.360 until the Space Shuttle was ready to launch, which had 0:17:36.400 --> 0:17:39.160 a few delays. It was finally ready in ninety one. 0:17:39.640 --> 0:17:42.440 NASA had hoped to use the Shuttle to help boost 0:17:42.560 --> 0:17:45.920 sky Lab into a higher orbit and keep Skylab going. 0:17:46.480 --> 0:17:49.880 But because of the delays in the Space Shuttle program, 0:17:49.920 --> 0:17:54.200 that opportunity went away. Uh sky Labs orbit deteriorated, and 0:17:54.240 --> 0:17:56.919 then it broke apart upon re entering the air's atmosphere 0:17:56.920 --> 0:18:01.199 in nine so there was no way of prolonging that mission. 0:18:02.000 --> 0:18:04.639 But now we're getting into the next era of space suits, 0:18:04.680 --> 0:18:07.560 the Space Shuttle era. When we come back, we'll talk 0:18:07.560 --> 0:18:10.280 about how those suits worked and what was different from 0:18:10.359 --> 0:18:13.800 the Apollo era suits. But first let's take this quick break. 0:18:21.320 --> 0:18:24.840 The Space Shuttle era does not have a single suit 0:18:25.040 --> 0:18:27.359 that we can point to and say this is what 0:18:27.520 --> 0:18:30.600 Space Shuttle suits were like. There are actually a few 0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:33.720 different ones, and of course there's a difference between the 0:18:33.760 --> 0:18:37.800 suits that were worn inside the Space Shuttle for normal 0:18:37.840 --> 0:18:42.200 operations as opposed for the stuff like take off and landing, 0:18:42.680 --> 0:18:44.680 and then the stuff worn for e v A S 0:18:44.760 --> 0:18:48.480 or extra vehicular activities you know, going out into space. 0:18:49.080 --> 0:18:53.440 But let's start at the beginning. The first mission, STS one, 0:18:53.680 --> 0:18:58.560 which launched on April twel had two astronauts wearing suits 0:18:58.560 --> 0:19:01.359 that were based largely on an Air Force flight suit 0:19:01.560 --> 0:19:06.480 designated S ten thirty. These were worn by pilots aboard 0:19:06.520 --> 0:19:11.240 the s R seventy one Blackbird aircraft. That's a long range, 0:19:11.480 --> 0:19:15.520 high speed, and high altitude reconnaissance vehicle. I've actually talked 0:19:15.520 --> 0:19:18.720 about the Blackbird in other episodes of tech Stuff. The 0:19:18.880 --> 0:19:22.600 David Clark Company, long associated with flight and space suits, 0:19:22.640 --> 0:19:26.399 made the variation for the early Space Shuttle cruise, and 0:19:26.480 --> 0:19:29.879 this one became known as the S ten thirty A, 0:19:29.880 --> 0:19:34.160 also known as the Shuttle Ejection Escape Suit. Now, as 0:19:34.200 --> 0:19:37.760 that name suggests, the suit was intended to protect astronauts 0:19:37.840 --> 0:19:41.600 in the event of an emergency ejection, and they were 0:19:41.680 --> 0:19:44.520 rated to protect an astronaut up to an altitude of 0:19:44.680 --> 0:19:49.760 eighty thousand feet and the speed of mock two point seven, 0:19:49.800 --> 0:19:52.879 which is a big yalza. So let's talk about that 0:19:52.920 --> 0:19:54.679 for a second to get our minds wrapped around what 0:19:54.760 --> 0:19:57.960 this means. So, as you climb in the atmosphere, the 0:19:58.000 --> 0:20:02.719 air pressure drops, which makes sense, right after all, on 0:20:02.760 --> 0:20:05.760 the ground, you've got the pressure of all that atmosphere 0:20:05.840 --> 0:20:08.840 pressing down on you. But as you go higher, you 0:20:08.920 --> 0:20:12.360 have less atmosphere above you, and so there's less pressure 0:20:12.560 --> 0:20:15.640 pushing down on you. At eighty thousand feet, the air 0:20:15.680 --> 0:20:18.960 pressure is point four zero six pounds per square inch. 0:20:19.840 --> 0:20:23.679 Temperature is a bit fiddly when it comes to altitudes. 0:20:23.760 --> 0:20:26.639 The temperature drops off as you climb up to a point, 0:20:26.760 --> 0:20:30.480 but then as you hit the stratosphere, the temperature actually 0:20:30.480 --> 0:20:33.120 starts to go up as you climb, and then as 0:20:33.160 --> 0:20:36.840 you get beyond the stratosphere, the temperature plunges again no joke, 0:20:37.280 --> 0:20:40.040 But at any thousand feet you're looking at temperatures of 0:20:40.119 --> 0:20:44.040 nearly negative sixty two Fahrenheits, So the suit has to 0:20:44.080 --> 0:20:47.359 protect against both the low pressure and the low temperature. 0:20:48.119 --> 0:20:51.520 Now let's talk about mock two point seven. Some folks 0:20:51.520 --> 0:20:54.679 reduce mock to mean a multiple of the speed of sound, 0:20:55.040 --> 0:20:57.200 so if you're going mock three, you're going three times 0:20:57.240 --> 0:21:00.560 the speed of sound, which is only part of the picture, 0:21:01.280 --> 0:21:04.800 because the actual explanation of mock is more complicated. And 0:21:04.840 --> 0:21:07.240 part of that is because the nature of the speed 0:21:07.240 --> 0:21:11.399 of sound is more complicated because sound travels at a 0:21:11.480 --> 0:21:16.000 speed that's dependent upon the medium through which it travels. So, 0:21:16.040 --> 0:21:20.719 in other words, sound travels at different speeds at different conditions, 0:21:20.880 --> 0:21:25.000 and those conditions can include things like temperature, so it 0:21:25.040 --> 0:21:28.800 will travel at different speed at sea level at standard 0:21:28.840 --> 0:21:32.800 temperature than it will at eight feet. So mock actually 0:21:32.800 --> 0:21:36.760 describes the ratio of the flow velocity of some fluid 0:21:37.119 --> 0:21:40.840 like air compared to the speed of sound through that 0:21:40.920 --> 0:21:46.160 particular medium. For shorthand, you could say it's like a multiplier. 0:21:46.400 --> 0:21:48.320 You know, you could say, oh, it's multiplied by the 0:21:48.359 --> 0:21:50.560 speed of sound. But just know that when you really 0:21:50.560 --> 0:21:53.560 dig down, it gets a little more complicated than that. Now, 0:21:53.600 --> 0:21:57.040 your typical commercial aircraft travels at a speed of around 0:21:57.160 --> 0:22:02.159 mock zero point eight, So mock two point seven is 0:22:02.200 --> 0:22:06.160 wicked fast. It's kind of like around you know, more 0:22:06.200 --> 0:22:09.240 than two thousand miles per hour or approximately three thousand, 0:22:09.359 --> 0:22:13.119 three hundred thirty four kilometers per hour. So the suit 0:22:13.640 --> 0:22:17.560 needed to protect astronauts against the forces they would encounter 0:22:17.600 --> 0:22:20.520 should they have to eject at that speed, which is 0:22:20.560 --> 0:22:24.080 pretty crazy stuff. Now, this version of the Space Shuttle 0:22:24.280 --> 0:22:27.680 had ejection seats for the pilot and copilot, and as 0:22:27.680 --> 0:22:30.520 they said, those early Shuttle flights only had two astronauts 0:22:30.560 --> 0:22:33.159 each to make certain that the shuttle was operating at 0:22:33.200 --> 0:22:36.119 the expected levels and testing it out to make certain 0:22:36.160 --> 0:22:39.359 it could go into operational status. Now, keep in mind. 0:22:39.440 --> 0:22:41.439 The purpose of the Shuttle was to serve as a 0:22:41.480 --> 0:22:44.399 reusable vehicle that we could take to low Earth orbit 0:22:44.760 --> 0:22:47.520 and then come back to Earth. So the injector seats 0:22:47.560 --> 0:22:51.040 and the escape suits or standard issue for STS one 0:22:51.119 --> 0:22:55.280 through STS four, the first four test missions of the 0:22:55.280 --> 0:22:59.879 Space Shuttle UH Space Shuttle Columbia. I should add the 0:23:00.040 --> 0:23:02.639 suits would connect to the shuttle for the purposes of 0:23:02.840 --> 0:23:05.959 life support. And if you ever look at a photo 0:23:06.000 --> 0:23:09.040 of an astronaut wearing one of these, you'd say that 0:23:09.200 --> 0:23:12.000 is non attractive space suit because they kind of look 0:23:12.080 --> 0:23:16.199 like lumpy potatoes. They weren't designed for use outside the 0:23:16.200 --> 0:23:19.959 shuttle in space, so they lacked the various layers of 0:23:20.000 --> 0:23:24.159 thermal protection and teflon coding and whatnot to protect against 0:23:24.200 --> 0:23:27.600 like micro meteoroids and the extremes of temperature that you 0:23:27.600 --> 0:23:29.960 would find in outer space. There would be no need 0:23:30.000 --> 0:23:32.320 to worry about that stuff until a bit later with 0:23:32.440 --> 0:23:35.960