The Space Suit

We live on a planet full of life. The earth is covered with the blanket of air due to which life is possible for us on Earth. If we just go 400 km up above the earth surface, in the sky we will reach Space, a deep dark void, which has no air to breathe. Many people have questions in their minds about how people survive up in space. It is possible to survive in space due to spacesuits. The space suits have oxygen that helps astronauts breathe. There are many pipes filled with water so that the astronauts feel cool. There are joints in the suit which allow the astronauts to move their body parts freely.

The first space suit was built in 1961, worn by the Russian cosmonaut “Yuri Gagarin.” The name of the Russian space suit was Skafander Kosmichesky (SK-I), which stands for “diving suit for space.” Wearing this suit, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to reach space. He spent about 108 minutes in space. When he came out of his spacecraft, his spacesuit puffed up due to no pressure outside (space). The suit was so puffed up that he had to take off some of his oxygen from the suit to fit back into the spacecraft.

Before that, some scientists and engineers together made a high-altitude suit in 1930. It was called a pressure suit, which protects the human body at high altitudes. It was worn by high-altitude pilots who fly their planes around 50,000 or 80,000 feet. These pilots wear these suits because at this height the oxygen concentration gets very low and a normal person without any gear cannot survive. The first full-pressure suit was designed by engineer Ciden Downes in 1931 in Leningrad, USSR. CH-I was the first suit they made; it was a simple pressure suit with a jointless helmet.

After Russia made their space suits, America also made their spacesuits at their space organisation known as NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration). Its astronaut, Neil Armstrong, became the first human to set foot on the moon. The suits which Neil Armstrong and crew wore were the A-7L Apollo Lunar Spacesuit during the Apollo-11 mission to the moon in 1969. This spacesuit was very different from Russia’s spacesuit. It had many buttons and pipes filled with cold water to keep the astronauts cool.

China also entered the space race in 1967. The project was named Shungwang, which was cancelled. China’s first indigenous space suit was the ‘Fetian’, which means “flying in the sky,” and it is also the name of the legendary Buddhist goddess. Their first spacewalk was done by Zhai Ztigan on September 27, 2008.

Now back to NASA. After 2008, NASA’s new space suit was made by the company Axiom Space. Advanced crew escape suits were one of the latest suits of NASA in 2008. It was an orange-coloured suit, which is worn by the astronauts during launches and landings. They have been making next-generation suits since 2007.

SpaceX was founded in the year 2002 to revolutionise space technology. It is owned by ELON MUSK, who is the richest man on the Earth and he is also the owner of TESLA, the car company. From the start, SpaceX was making rockets for NASA, like the Falcon-9. They have started making IVA (Internal Vehicular Activity Suit) suits. This space suit is worn by the astronaut Nick Hague and cosmonaut Aleksander Gorbunov, who went to the ISS (International Space Station) via THE CREW DRAGON to rescue the stranded astronauts Sunita William and Butch Willmore. Who are stuck back in ISS due to some technical difficulties, the BOEING STARLINER returned to earth without its crew members on September 7, 2024.

Their space suit is so technologically advanced that it is thin but keeps astronauts alive in spaceships and space stations. This IVA space suit was possible because of Jose Fernandez, who is a famous Hollywood costume designer; he co-designed the SpaceX space suits along with SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk. The material of the Spacesuit is Nomex, which is a flame-resistant material. Teflon is used for insulation and a Faraday layer, which shields the suit from pressure. The weight of the suit is about 24 to 60 pounds. Unlike other suits, they don’t have bulky oxygen tanks. These suits of SpaceX get the oxygen from the belt provided in the spaceship, The Crew Dragon. Space X has developed an EVA (Extra Vehicular Activity) suite in 2024, which is based on SpaceX’s IVA, which is worn inside the spacecraft. EVA suits have improved the quality of materials and joints to increase mobility as well as protect astronauts from cold in space. It is also included with a heads-up display, and its helmet has a camera installed.

This is the story of space suits till date. As technology is advancing in the modern world, the day is not very far when one would be able to buy a spacesuit in a nearby shopping mall if Elon Musk is successful in taking mankind to MARS or MOON. Let’s wait and watch how far technology will take us.

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