WEBVTT - More Space Suits and Pooping in Space 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:12.080 --> 0:00:14.920 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:15.040 --> 0:00:18.640 Jonathan Strickland. I'm ad executive producer with I Heart Radio, 0:00:18.800 --> 0:00:22.000 and I love all things tech and I've promised you 0:00:23.000 --> 0:00:26.079 that I would have another follow up to our space 0:00:26.239 --> 0:00:29.479 Suits episode which published on Monday, and this is it. 0:00:30.120 --> 0:00:33.920 So on Monday's episode, we looked at the early history 0:00:34.000 --> 0:00:37.239 of space suits, from the era of flight suits before 0:00:37.720 --> 0:00:41.440 the Space Race to the suits worn by cosmonauts and 0:00:41.560 --> 0:00:46.720 astronauts up to the beginning of the Apollo program. And 0:00:47.040 --> 0:00:49.880 I want to mention a couple of things before we continue. 0:00:49.960 --> 0:00:55.400 One is that the Soviets stopped using flight suits for 0:00:55.440 --> 0:00:58.880 a while in their so used capsules when they were 0:00:59.200 --> 0:01:04.640 first doing those, they decided to allow cosmonauts more freedom 0:01:04.680 --> 0:01:08.920 of movement and so they weren't wearing pressure suits and 0:01:09.040 --> 0:01:13.320 uh and and your rescue suits for a couple of missions. 0:01:13.560 --> 0:01:18.200 They did have a suit that was a more advanced 0:01:18.280 --> 0:01:20.920 version of the Burri Cutt suit that was used for 0:01:20.959 --> 0:01:24.520 the first Soviet e v A, which was only used 0:01:24.680 --> 0:01:28.600 up between two se Us missions where the two capsules 0:01:28.640 --> 0:01:32.840 docked with each other, and the that cosmonauts were able 0:01:32.880 --> 0:01:37.640 to meet one another when when they launched two missions 0:01:37.640 --> 0:01:41.919 in close succession. Beyond that, they went without pressure suits 0:01:42.080 --> 0:01:46.080 until there was a tragic accident in which there was 0:01:46.120 --> 0:01:51.800 a depressurization, a rapid depressurization incident that resulted in the 0:01:51.840 --> 0:01:55.560 death of all three cosmonauts aboard a mission. That then 0:01:55.720 --> 0:02:00.920 prompted the USSR to have a new requirement or the 0:02:01.040 --> 0:02:04.440 Soviets to wear a pressure suit on the way up, 0:02:04.480 --> 0:02:08.360 and that became the so called cosmos are so called 0:02:08.440 --> 0:02:14.880 k and that basic suit has been in use ever since. 0:02:15.240 --> 0:02:17.919 So it's a pressure suit that's meant to be worn 0:02:18.080 --> 0:02:25.200 inside a space craft, particularly during critical elements like if 0:02:25.280 --> 0:02:30.320 you are taking off or landing, not necessarily, uh, in 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:33.280 just the normal operations. Once you're out in space, you 0:02:33.320 --> 0:02:37.640 can get out of the suit. But yeah, that's still 0:02:37.760 --> 0:02:40.440 to this day the suits that are being used by 0:02:40.720 --> 0:02:44.560 Russia no longer the Soviet Union. Obviously. Another thing I 0:02:44.560 --> 0:02:48.360 wanted to mention is that while the space suit evolved 0:02:48.360 --> 0:02:50.960 from the flight suit, I don't mean to suggest that 0:02:51.000 --> 0:02:55.840 flight suits stopped evolving in that process. They definitely kept 0:02:55.880 --> 0:02:59.640 evolving over time. So we had separate branches of evolution 0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:03.280 here and the flight suits of today are incredibly sophisticated 0:03:03.320 --> 0:03:07.440 and in some ways similar to space suits, but not identical. 0:03:07.960 --> 0:03:11.639 And I also mentioned a couple of materials in that 0:03:11.760 --> 0:03:15.600 previous episode, like no max, but I didn't really go 0:03:15.639 --> 0:03:17.959 into detail about what that is. So no Max is 0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:21.560 a proprietary material that the company DuPont developed in the 0:03:21.600 --> 0:03:25.480 nineteen sixties, and it is similar in many ways to nylon, 0:03:25.760 --> 0:03:29.280 but it's a little more rigid, and most importantly, it 0:03:29.440 --> 0:03:32.200 is fire and heat resistant, so it's been used in 0:03:32.280 --> 0:03:34.840 uniforms and outfits meant for all sorts of folks who 0:03:34.880 --> 0:03:40.760 work in dangerous environments and situations, like race car drivers, firefighters, 0:03:40.800 --> 0:03:44.640 and astronauts. No Mix is a polymer which is a 0:03:44.680 --> 0:03:47.520 type of long chain molecule where you have the same 0:03:47.880 --> 0:03:50.880 repeated units chained together over and over and over again. 0:03:51.400 --> 0:03:54.680 But it's a special kind of polymer. It's called an 0:03:54.720 --> 0:03:59.280 aromatic polyamide polymer. And you might think that means this 0:03:59.320 --> 0:04:03.560 fabric must smell nice, but it's not that kind of aromatic. 0:04:04.000 --> 0:04:08.360 In chemistry, aromatic means that the molecules in the chain 0:04:08.440 --> 0:04:11.720 connect as a series of rings, rather than as a 0:04:11.840 --> 0:04:15.160 straight line of atoms that are chained together, and the 0:04:15.200 --> 0:04:18.880 word polyamide means that these strings of molecules connect together 0:04:18.960 --> 0:04:22.719 to form chains. Of these chains and the molecular structure 0:04:22.720 --> 0:04:27.040 of no mix makes it a fairly tough material. In fact, kevlar, 0:04:27.440 --> 0:04:30.520 which was also developed by DuPont, is a type of 0:04:30.600 --> 0:04:34.720 aromatic polyomide, although it is in many ways very different 0:04:34.800 --> 0:04:38.760 from nomex, but it shares some of the same molecular 0:04:38.920 --> 0:04:44.640 structural components. So no Max has some interesting properties. One 0:04:44.720 --> 0:04:48.000 is that no MAX will burn if it is exposed 0:04:48.080 --> 0:04:50.440 to a heat source and you know there's oxygen and 0:04:50.480 --> 0:04:52.360 all that kind of stuff. If the triangle is there, 0:04:53.120 --> 0:04:55.279 no MAX will burn. But if it is removed from 0:04:55.279 --> 0:04:57.839 the heat source, then no Max will just stop burning. 0:04:57.920 --> 0:05:00.919 Thus it is is flame resistant, is not flame proof, 0:05:01.360 --> 0:05:05.480 but is flame resistant. Also, it doesn't conduct heat very well, 0:05:05.680 --> 0:05:07.800 so a suit of nomas can serve as a layer 0:05:07.839 --> 0:05:11.960 of protection against heat. All right, So let's get back 0:05:12.360 --> 0:05:15.160 to our story. So, as I mentioned in our last 0:05:15.200 --> 0:05:19.040 episode on this situation on the subject, I should say, 0:05:19.240 --> 0:05:24.400 the space suits developed for the Gemini or Geminy project 0:05:24.720 --> 0:05:28.039 were intended to serve as a sort of stop gap 0:05:28.240 --> 0:05:31.240 for the early part of the Apollo program. There were 0:05:31.240 --> 0:05:34.560 planned missions that would test various elements of the Apollo 0:05:34.640 --> 0:05:37.880 spacecraft and the launch vehicles and space suits and all 0:05:37.880 --> 0:05:39.719 that kind of stuff, and some of the early ones 0:05:40.240 --> 0:05:45.080 would not involve going beyond orbit or exiting the capsule. So, 0:05:45.080 --> 0:05:48.560 in other words, the Apollo program, while the goal was 0:05:48.600 --> 0:05:51.640 to get to the Moon, it's not like we were 0:05:51.680 --> 0:05:53.920 supposed to be aiming straight for the Moon right at 0:05:53.920 --> 0:05:56.560 the get go. It was all in stages so that 0:05:56.600 --> 0:06:00.440 we could learn more, use what we learned to build 0:06:00.520 --> 0:06:04.240 upon that, and then continue from there. So the A 0:06:04.480 --> 0:06:07.200 one C space suit, which was based off the Gemin 0:06:07.240 --> 0:06:11.520 E or Gemini G three C model suit, was to 0:06:11.600 --> 0:06:15.159 serve for this first block of Apollo missions, also known 0:06:15.200 --> 0:06:17.679 as Block one. Now, I think I might have said 0:06:18.000 --> 0:06:20.880 that was based off the G four C suit in 0:06:21.000 --> 0:06:24.520 Monday's episode, and if I did, that's totally a mistake 0:06:24.520 --> 0:06:27.040 on my part. That's on me. The G four C 0:06:27.279 --> 0:06:30.800 suit was the Gemini suit that was designed for astronauts 0:06:30.800 --> 0:06:35.160 to go on spacewalks on extra vehicular activities or e 0:06:35.240 --> 0:06:39.159 v A s. The G three C suit had fewer 0:06:39.240 --> 0:06:42.880 layers of the G four and was slightly more maneuverable 0:06:42.920 --> 0:06:45.320 as a result of that, and it was only intended 0:06:45.360 --> 0:06:49.120 to be used inside of spacecraft. It wasn't rated to 0:06:49.200 --> 0:06:52.839 be used outside, So the A one C was similar 0:06:52.880 --> 0:06:57.039 in design to that G three C. The original first 0:06:57.040 --> 0:07:00.560 mission had the designation of A S two O four 0:07:01.480 --> 0:07:04.440 and it was supposed to see Gus Grissom, who had 0:07:04.440 --> 0:07:07.000 actually played a really big part in the development of 0:07:07.040 --> 0:07:11.160 space suits, and Ed White and Roger B. Chaffee test 0:07:11.280 --> 0:07:13.760 the Apollo capsule in Earth orbit in a mission that 0:07:13.840 --> 0:07:17.720 was planned to last up to two weeks. But tragically, 0:07:18.080 --> 0:07:22.680 during a launch simulation test, there was this intense fire 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:27.240 that erupted inside the capsule and all three astronauts were 0:07:27.280 --> 0:07:30.240 strapped in in the capsule, and so they all three 0:07:30.800 --> 0:07:33.920 died as a result of this. The A one C 0:07:34.560 --> 0:07:37.280 suit was made out of nylon, which kind of lacked 0:07:37.280 --> 0:07:39.800 the heat and flame resistance that you would find with 0:07:39.880 --> 0:07:43.280 no MAX and it appeared as though the astronauts had 0:07:43.320 --> 0:07:46.920 attempted to follow emergency procedures to open the hatch of 0:07:47.000 --> 0:07:50.120 the capsule to escape, but they were not able to 0:07:50.160 --> 0:07:53.520 do so. The intensity of the fire kept the rescue 0:07:53.560 --> 0:07:57.200 crew at bay for several crucial minutes uh and this 0:07:57.240 --> 0:07:59.960 was exacerbated by a fear that that fire could put 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:04.320 intentionally lead to an explosion, perhaps even involving the launch 0:08:04.440 --> 0:08:08.000 vehicle in addition to the capsule itself. So this was 0:08:08.080 --> 0:08:12.480 a terrible tragedy. In the wake of that loss, NASA 0:08:12.560 --> 0:08:14.600 canceled the rest of what was supposed to be the 0:08:14.680 --> 0:08:18.360 Block one crude missions, as in the missions with cruise 0:08:18.520 --> 0:08:20.840 in them. And as they crude, I do mean c 0:08:21.160 --> 0:08:24.320 R E W E D, not crude as in c 0:08:24.640 --> 0:08:27.960 R U D E. The A one C suit would 0:08:28.000 --> 0:08:31.320 never see use in outer space, and from that tragedy, 0:08:31.440 --> 0:08:34.040 NASA saw the need to make sure that the future 0:08:34.080 --> 0:08:38.280 space suits provided better protection against heat and fire. The 0:08:38.320 --> 0:08:41.480 second block of Apollo missions would need suits designed for 0:08:41.559 --> 0:08:45.120 extra vehicular activity, because again the goal was to go 0:08:45.240 --> 0:08:47.320 to the Moon and to get out and walk around. 0:08:48.160 --> 0:08:52.120 So these suits would consist I mean, it really depends 0:08:52.120 --> 0:08:55.000 on how you look at it, but two main components. 0:08:55.040 --> 0:08:58.040 But honestly, that's you could You could argue that the 0:08:58.080 --> 0:09:00.520 space suit was two components, or you could argue it 0:09:00.600 --> 0:09:04.280 was lots of them. But you had the pressure suit 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:07.640 assembly or the p S A, and you had the 0:09:07.760 --> 0:09:11.640 Portable Life Support System or p l s S, which 0:09:11.720 --> 0:09:14.960 is also known as the backpack because it was worn 0:09:15.080 --> 0:09:19.200 that way. Collectively, this entire get up was called the 0:09:19.240 --> 0:09:24.080 extra vehicular Mobility Unit or EMU. But we can break 0:09:24.080 --> 0:09:27.120 this down even further, So let's get to talking about 0:09:27.160 --> 0:09:31.240 these different components. What made them up all these different layers, 0:09:31.280 --> 0:09:35.280 because there's a lot to go through. First, you had 0:09:35.320 --> 0:09:38.520 the underwear. Now, as one source put it, it was 0:09:38.679 --> 0:09:43.760 quote heavy duty space boxer briefs end quote that we're 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:49.120 also and I quote highly absorbent, and they had a 0:09:49.280 --> 0:09:52.120 urine collection component to them, which I will get to 0:09:52.200 --> 0:09:55.960 a bit later, because, oh boy, when you think about 0:09:56.040 --> 0:09:59.520 the people who pioneered space travel and you realize some 0:09:59.720 --> 0:10:02.319 of the stuff they had to go through, you really 0:10:02.360 --> 0:10:04.880 get a different kind of appreciation for some of their 0:10:06.160 --> 0:10:10.120 let's let's call it sacrifices, you know, as far as 0:10:10.160 --> 0:10:17.520 comfort and sanitation go. Next came an LCG or liquid 0:10:17.679 --> 0:10:21.880 cooling garment. So this undergarment suit was made out of 0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:26.560 nylon and it used water in clear plastic tubing to 0:10:26.679 --> 0:10:29.959 cool the astronauts. So imagine a suit that has this 0:10:29.960 --> 0:10:33.400 this tubing. It's kind of like a water cooled PC 0:10:33.559 --> 0:10:36.000 in a way. You have this what the system of 0:10:36.040 --> 0:10:39.440 tubes that transports water all over the body of the 0:10:39.480 --> 0:10:44.360 astronaut in order to carry heat away from the astronauts. 0:10:44.400 --> 0:10:47.680 So the air conditioned suits of the Mercury and Gemini 0:10:47.800 --> 0:10:52.239 eras really failed to keep astronauts at a comfortable temperature. 0:10:53.080 --> 0:10:56.559 It became clear that astronauts were putting forth a lot 0:10:56.600 --> 0:11:00.040 more effort in their activities in space and generating a 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:02.439 lot more heat. And then the fact that these suits 0:11:02.480 --> 0:11:05.839 were so good at insulating meant that heat would get 0:11:05.840 --> 0:11:07.720 trapped in there as well as the heat of just 0:11:07.800 --> 0:11:11.400 the various electrical components inside the suit that was adding 0:11:11.440 --> 0:11:14.320 to it, and air conditioning just wasn't cutting it. So 0:11:14.400 --> 0:11:17.520 the new system would circulate water through these tubes under 0:11:17.520 --> 0:11:19.680 the suit to carry body heat away so that the 0:11:19.679 --> 0:11:23.280 astronauts didn't get too hot and sweaty. Obviously, sweating was 0:11:23.280 --> 0:11:25.680 a problem too, because if you're wearing a helmet, that 0:11:25.760 --> 0:11:28.440 sweat can start making the helmet fog up, and then 0:11:28.480 --> 0:11:31.920 you've also got water vapor issues. So this was all necessary. 0:11:31.960 --> 0:11:38.080 Stuff Connected to the LCG was a bio belt which 0:11:38.160 --> 0:11:41.200 was made out of a material called cotton duck. It's 0:11:41.280 --> 0:11:45.959 it's kind of like canvas, like heavy canvas. It feels 0:11:46.000 --> 0:11:48.720 kind of like that. And the belt included pockets in 0:11:48.760 --> 0:11:53.120 which the various sensors and tools that were used to 0:11:53.400 --> 0:11:58.760 monitor astronaut health were located. Uh These included signal processors 0:11:58.800 --> 0:12:01.360 to handle stuff like an e c G signal or 0:12:01.400 --> 0:12:06.120 an electro cardiograph signal, and cables connecting the sensors to 0:12:06.480 --> 0:12:09.760 the equipment in the belt had to be snapped on 0:12:09.960 --> 0:12:13.640 to the LCG underneath with other sensors making direct contact 0:12:13.640 --> 0:12:17.439 with the astronauts. And next came a pressure suit called 0:12:17.480 --> 0:12:22.000 the Integrated Thermal micro Meteoroid Garment or i t m G, 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:27.120 which was made up of three major layers. The innermost 0:12:27.200 --> 0:12:30.559 layer was made of a lightweight nylon and it included 0:12:30.679 --> 0:12:35.440 vents um. The middle layer was neo preen coated nylon, 0:12:35.520 --> 0:12:38.160 which was designed to keep pressure on the astronaut to 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:42.000 help them manage the forces of acceleration without blacking out, 0:12:42.160 --> 0:12:45.120 and was you know, kind of an air tight sort 0:12:45.160 --> 0:12:48.719 of layer. The outermost layer was a tougher layer of 0:12:48.800 --> 0:12:52.440 nylon designed to restrain the pressurized layers so that they 0:12:52.480 --> 0:12:55.680 didn't balloon out and restrict movement too much. Remember, there's 0:12:56.240 --> 0:12:59.360 no pressure out in space, so if you have a 0:12:59.360 --> 0:13:03.080 lot of inter a pressure in your system, it's naturally 0:13:03.080 --> 0:13:06.120 going to expand in an environmental low pressure. So this 0:13:06.280 --> 0:13:09.600 was meant to curtail that a little bit. The I 0:13:09.760 --> 0:13:13.280 T MG also had integrated boots, so it's kind of 0:13:13.280 --> 0:13:18.360 like footy pajamas, but for space. Then there were interwoven 0:13:18.440 --> 0:13:22.640 layers of MILAR and dacron that went on top of this. 0:13:23.160 --> 0:13:26.160 So milar is a type of polyester film also known 0:13:26.360 --> 0:13:31.679 as biaxually oriented polyethylene tariff fyllite. And I feel like 0:13:31.760 --> 0:13:33.800 Daffy Duck trying to say all that, and I know 0:13:33.880 --> 0:13:38.160 I butchered it. The this material has some really useful properties. 0:13:38.360 --> 0:13:41.040 It's got a really high melting point, it's got really 0:13:41.080 --> 0:13:45.520 good tensile strength, and it is an electrical insulator. Those 0:13:45.520 --> 0:13:48.160 are all very useful, and it can also serve as 0:13:48.200 --> 0:13:52.480 an effective thermal reflector, meaning it can reflect heat as 0:13:52.480 --> 0:13:56.360 well as other types of radiation. Dacron is a type 0:13:56.360 --> 0:14:00.439 of polyester fabric also made by the Dupot company, which 0:14:00.840 --> 0:14:03.840 in fact also made milar. And it's a material that 0:14:04.000 --> 0:14:07.800 doesn't retain moisture, which also makes it resistant to stuff 0:14:07.840 --> 0:14:11.320 like mold and mildew. And it's often used in upholstery 0:14:11.360 --> 0:14:14.240 for furniture for those reasons, so you could very well 0:14:14.280 --> 0:14:16.320 have stuff in your home right now that's made of 0:14:16.360 --> 0:14:20.600 the same material that was part of space suits. Next 0:14:20.800 --> 0:14:23.520 came a couple of layers of a material called Capton 0:14:24.040 --> 0:14:25.880 K A P T O N, and once again the 0:14:25.920 --> 0:14:29.360 DuPont company was responsible for the development of Captain, which 0:14:29.400 --> 0:14:32.160 is a polymide film that can remain stable across a 0:14:32.240 --> 0:14:36.720 very wide range of temperatures, including the extreme temperatures that 0:14:36.800 --> 0:14:40.840 astronauts might experience on a spacewalk. NASA would also use 0:14:40.880 --> 0:14:44.160 Captain and layers in various spacecraft over the years for 0:14:44.200 --> 0:14:47.960 that very same reason. Then, the outermost layers had coatings 0:14:48.040 --> 0:14:51.720 of taflon on them, and they were made not by DuPont, 0:14:52.120 --> 0:14:55.320 by a company called kim Mores, which was a company 0:14:55.400 --> 0:15:01.160 that spun off from DuPont Golli. But this was to 0:15:01.440 --> 0:15:04.960 protect the suit and obviously the astronauts inside the suits 0:15:05.000 --> 0:15:07.960 from scrapes, and it was also capable of was standing 0:15:08.040 --> 0:15:11.840 incredible temperatures and was given the name Beta cloth. A 0:15:11.880 --> 0:15:14.480 lot of stuff on space suits would be made up 0:15:14.480 --> 0:15:19.320 of Beta cloth because of how resistant it was too 0:15:19.400 --> 0:15:22.440 high temperatures I've got more to say, in fact, a 0:15:22.480 --> 0:15:25.480 lot more to say about the Apollo suits. But first 0:15:25.520 --> 0:15:36.040 let's take a quick break. Okay. I gave a quick 0:15:36.120 --> 0:15:40.320 rundown on the general layers of the space suit. But 0:15:40.400 --> 0:15:42.600 the entrance to this thing, if you needed to get 0:15:42.640 --> 0:15:46.600 into one, was through the back of the suit, and 0:15:46.640 --> 0:15:50.000 there was this heavy duty zipper that that sealed it 0:15:50.040 --> 0:15:55.280 all up. And so you would on Earth have people 0:15:55.360 --> 0:15:59.920 helping you get into this thing, because it's pretty intricate. 0:16:00.080 --> 0:16:02.320 You would have to make a lot of connections between 0:16:02.360 --> 0:16:04.840 the LCG suit, remember that's the one with all the 0:16:04.880 --> 0:16:08.960 little water tubes in it, to connect directly to this 0:16:09.080 --> 0:16:11.080 other suit that you wore on top of it. So 0:16:12.240 --> 0:16:15.320 it's not just like throwing an extra layer on, right, 0:16:15.360 --> 0:16:17.760 It's not like putting a jacket on top of a sweater, 0:16:18.360 --> 0:16:21.080 only it would be more like if your sweater had 0:16:21.080 --> 0:16:23.240 to connect directly to your jacket so that you can 0:16:23.280 --> 0:16:25.800 get oxygen and water and that kind of stuff. So 0:16:26.200 --> 0:16:29.920 very complicated, and to get in you needed to kind 0:16:29.920 --> 0:16:33.040 of enter with your shoulders and hips kind of aligned 0:16:33.080 --> 0:16:36.120 together and entered it more or less the same way. 0:16:36.200 --> 0:16:40.480 So you would have this this space suit essentially unfolded 0:16:40.560 --> 0:16:43.320 as you were getting in and moving your arms into 0:16:43.360 --> 0:16:48.720 the sleeves and your legs into the legs and feet 0:16:49.200 --> 0:16:52.000 of the suit, because remember the suit itself does have 0:16:52.080 --> 0:16:55.760 its own integrated boots. It was tricky to do even 0:16:55.800 --> 0:16:59.280 with help, and obviously once you got out into space, 0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:02.480 it was going to be much trickier. Once inside the suit, 0:17:02.960 --> 0:17:06.800 the astronaut would need to connect the various elements between 0:17:06.880 --> 0:17:11.280 the LCG, the bio belt, and the I t MG 0:17:11.520 --> 0:17:14.800 that outer suit, and that sounds like it was probably 0:17:14.840 --> 0:17:18.320 a really tricky process to me. Then the astronaut would 0:17:18.400 --> 0:17:22.000 use a long essentially a ribbon attached to the zipper 0:17:22.440 --> 0:17:25.119 and pull the zipper up and around. Uh So the 0:17:25.200 --> 0:17:28.000 zipper would go from the back of the neck all 0:17:28.119 --> 0:17:30.960 the way down and around the bottom of the crotch, 0:17:31.720 --> 0:17:34.800 So to zip up, you would have to grab this 0:17:34.800 --> 0:17:37.480 this ribbon and kind of stretch your arms and everything 0:17:37.520 --> 0:17:39.760 in order to be able to pull that zipper up 0:17:39.760 --> 0:17:42.359 and around. You could. Obviously if you had help that 0:17:42.400 --> 0:17:44.840 would change things dramatically, but if you were doing it 0:17:44.840 --> 0:17:47.720 by yourself, it was a heck of a thing. And 0:17:47.800 --> 0:17:50.120 once in the suit, the astronaut would then put on 0:17:50.200 --> 0:17:54.679 the communications carrier assembly a k a. The snoopy cap. 0:17:54.960 --> 0:17:58.320 This was a head covering that included the communications equipment 0:17:58.359 --> 0:18:00.960 like the microphone and headphones that the astronaut would need 0:18:00.960 --> 0:18:04.040 in order to communicate with the rest of their crew 0:18:04.320 --> 0:18:07.120 as well as those on mission control back on Earth. 0:18:07.720 --> 0:18:10.720 And this would plug into the main suit as well, 0:18:11.160 --> 0:18:15.360 so you would have this head covering that connected directly 0:18:15.400 --> 0:18:18.320 to the rest of the suit. Then you had a 0:18:18.440 --> 0:18:21.760 pair of gloves that interlocked with the arms of the suit, 0:18:21.840 --> 0:18:25.440 and there are actually two different sets of gloves. One 0:18:25.440 --> 0:18:29.800 set was used inside the spacecraft and had hands made 0:18:29.800 --> 0:18:33.080 of rubber, but for e V A missions, if you 0:18:33.119 --> 0:18:36.399 were to go out on say a lunar walk or 0:18:36.440 --> 0:18:39.520 a spacewalk, you would wear a totally different set of 0:18:39.520 --> 0:18:43.879 gloves that had silicone fingertips. And then the rest of 0:18:43.880 --> 0:18:47.119 the gloves were made of a fabric that was a 0:18:47.160 --> 0:18:51.560 type of stainless steel called chrome are. And the gloves 0:18:51.600 --> 0:18:55.200 also extended to cover the locking mechanism at the wrists 0:18:55.680 --> 0:18:57.920 for the the e v A version, because they wanted 0:18:57.960 --> 0:19:01.280 to make sure that the metal in that that locking 0:19:01.320 --> 0:19:07.280 mechanism was kept insulated in case otherwise when exposed to 0:19:07.320 --> 0:19:09.800 space it might heat up or cool down too quickly 0:19:09.840 --> 0:19:14.720 and become brittle or potentially cause harm to the astronaut directly, 0:19:14.760 --> 0:19:18.919 but you know, inside the suit. Finally, you had a 0:19:18.960 --> 0:19:22.560 pressure helmet to put on, so you already have the 0:19:22.600 --> 0:19:24.160 head covering, but then you had to put a helmet 0:19:24.200 --> 0:19:27.199 on on top of that. This was made of polycarbonate 0:19:27.680 --> 0:19:29.959 and in the Apollo days it was essentially like a 0:19:30.000 --> 0:19:33.720 clear bubble style helmet. When going out on the Moon, 0:19:33.760 --> 0:19:36.040 the astronauts had to add in an element called the 0:19:36.119 --> 0:19:41.280 Lunar extra Vehicular Visor Assembly or l e v A LEVA, 0:19:41.440 --> 0:19:44.480 which included a sun visor and components that would protect 0:19:44.560 --> 0:19:47.800 the neck locking mechanism from temperatures, kind of the way 0:19:47.840 --> 0:19:50.600 that the gloves had to protect the wrist locking areas. 0:19:51.080 --> 0:19:53.240 The helmet had the same sort of thing for e 0:19:53.400 --> 0:19:58.239 v a's and there were also extra lunar boots that 0:19:58.400 --> 0:20:01.280 we need to put on on top up of your suits, 0:20:01.320 --> 0:20:04.439 integrated boots as well, so over shoes really, so you 0:20:04.520 --> 0:20:07.280 had your specific gauntlets or gloves that you had to 0:20:07.320 --> 0:20:10.199 put on, your specific overshoes you had to add to 0:20:10.240 --> 0:20:13.840 your suit, and you had this special helmet assembly that 0:20:13.880 --> 0:20:16.080 you had to add on before you would leave the 0:20:17.119 --> 0:20:19.840 lunar module in the case of a lunar landing. And 0:20:20.760 --> 0:20:24.879 I mentioned the all the connectors on the suit. The 0:20:24.920 --> 0:20:29.359 front of the suit actually had six different connectors that 0:20:29.680 --> 0:20:34.840 would attach to different life support systems. And you might wonder, well, 0:20:34.840 --> 0:20:37.600 why do you have you know, so many, like why 0:20:37.640 --> 0:20:39.880 are there six? Like you would think, oh, you really 0:20:39.920 --> 0:20:42.480 just need maybe three or four, right, Like you would 0:20:42.480 --> 0:20:46.760 need one for oxygen intake, you would need one to 0:20:46.920 --> 0:20:50.840 take carbon dioxide away. You would need one to help 0:20:50.920 --> 0:20:54.280 circulate the water, maybe two to to circulate the water. 0:20:54.320 --> 0:20:57.120 So now we're up to what four? Well, then maybe 0:20:57.119 --> 0:21:00.520 you need one more for electricity, possibly right if you 0:21:00.560 --> 0:21:04.200 didn't have like an onboard battery. But you actually had 0:21:04.240 --> 0:21:06.439 more than that on this suit. And the reason was 0:21:07.200 --> 0:21:11.160 that the portable life support system that I'll talk about 0:21:11.160 --> 0:21:14.000 a bit later in this episode, Uh, it would only 0:21:14.000 --> 0:21:16.800 work in the vacuum of space. So when you put 0:21:16.840 --> 0:21:19.120 it on before you went out onto the moon, you're 0:21:19.160 --> 0:21:23.119 on the lunar module. Yeah, you've got your your suited up, 0:21:23.119 --> 0:21:25.480 you've got your your p l SS on your back. 0:21:26.520 --> 0:21:31.000 It would not provide life support until you depressurized the 0:21:31.080 --> 0:21:33.679 lunar module and then we're ready to go out on 0:21:33.720 --> 0:21:36.399 the Moon. So in order for you to continue to 0:21:36.400 --> 0:21:40.560 have life support, you would have a connection directly to 0:21:40.840 --> 0:21:43.879 the lunar module that would provide life support to you, 0:21:44.200 --> 0:21:46.280 and you would also have connections to the p L 0:21:46.480 --> 0:21:49.000 S S at the same time. Only the lunar module 0:21:49.040 --> 0:21:52.159 would act as your life support. Once it was depressurized 0:21:52.200 --> 0:21:54.080 and you were ready to go out, then you could 0:21:54.119 --> 0:21:56.480 switch over to the p L S S and you 0:21:56.520 --> 0:22:00.840 could disconnect the connectors to your suit that we're connecting 0:22:00.880 --> 0:22:04.040 you to the lunar module. So it was, you know, 0:22:04.280 --> 0:22:07.600 just an important element that was necessary in order to 0:22:07.600 --> 0:22:11.639 have this seamless transition of life support from one source 0:22:11.720 --> 0:22:15.440 to another on Earth. Before connecting up to the spacecraft, 0:22:15.480 --> 0:22:18.919 the astronauts would actually carry with them a portable ventilator 0:22:19.080 --> 0:22:22.720 unit connected to their suits, kind of like carrying around 0:22:22.760 --> 0:22:25.800 your your own personal air conditioner in a way. This 0:22:26.040 --> 0:22:30.159 provided some oxygen and cooling capabilities, but once they were 0:22:30.200 --> 0:22:33.919 getting into the Apollo capsule, they would disconnect from these 0:22:33.960 --> 0:22:38.560 portable handheld units and then connect to the the Apollo 0:22:38.600 --> 0:22:43.359 capsule itself to provide life support. These suits were really big, 0:22:43.480 --> 0:22:46.720 they were really bulky. They were super heavy. I mean, 0:22:46.760 --> 0:22:50.720 depending on what variation you're looking at. Like the light 0:22:50.840 --> 0:22:53.919 one before you had all the extra stuff on, was 0:22:53.960 --> 0:22:57.040 weighing in and around sixty two pounds. That was just 0:22:57.080 --> 0:22:59.240 for the version that you would wear inside the capsule 0:22:59.280 --> 0:23:01.760 without any extra stuff on it. If you were to 0:23:02.080 --> 0:23:05.200 take an E V A, you'd be looking at weights 0:23:05.480 --> 0:23:08.000 going up to seventy six pounds. If you're going all 0:23:08.040 --> 0:23:10.720 the way out to the Moon with all the additional units, 0:23:10.920 --> 0:23:13.879 all the additional components, you're looking at around a hundred 0:23:13.920 --> 0:23:18.080 eighty pounds of suit you're wearing. However, keep in mind 0:23:18.320 --> 0:23:21.439 you're in space. So when you're in space space like 0:23:21.720 --> 0:23:25.240 floating in orbit or whatever, you're in micro gravity, so 0:23:25.480 --> 0:23:29.120 you're not really floating, you're falling, but you're in micro gravity, 0:23:29.400 --> 0:23:31.920 so you don't have to deal with weight so much. 0:23:31.960 --> 0:23:34.240 You have to deal with mass, but weight is not 0:23:34.320 --> 0:23:36.080 so much of an issue. And then, of course on 0:23:36.280 --> 0:23:39.400 the Moon gravity is one sixth that of Earth's, so 0:23:39.440 --> 0:23:42.200 while you'd be wearing a very bulky suit, it would 0:23:42.200 --> 0:23:45.560 not feel super heavy to you. Speaking of the Moon, 0:23:46.000 --> 0:23:50.000 Neil Armstrong's suit had the designation A seven L and 0:23:50.080 --> 0:23:53.640 the serial number zero five six and according to the Smithsonian, 0:23:53.800 --> 0:23:57.200 the estimated cost for his suit was one hundred thousand 0:23:57.359 --> 0:23:59.800 dollars at the time. That was a lot of money 0:24:00.080 --> 0:24:02.800 back then. If we were to adjust it for inflation, 0:24:02.840 --> 0:24:04.520 that would mean that the suit was more than half 0:24:04.520 --> 0:24:07.119 a million dollars to put together, which is a pretty 0:24:07.119 --> 0:24:10.000 expensive suit, you know. I mean, I've looked at some 0:24:10.040 --> 0:24:13.040 suits that are fairly expensive and said no way, but 0:24:13.160 --> 0:24:16.040