First Moon Suit

[LordFerret]

"This was the first spacesuit designed for astronauts on the moon and it looks like Mr. Stay Puft"

- http://www.businessinsider.com/first-spacesuit-for-man-on-moon-by-allyn-b-hazard-2015-5

Don't fall over in this baby, you might not get back up.

[Motokid600]

Seems perfectly practical. Why wouldn't NASA have used suits like this instead? I see no engineering challenges what so ever.

[xenomorph555]

Seems perfectly practical. Why wouldn't NASA have used suits like this instead? I see no engineering challenges what so ever.

Is that sarcasm or are you serious?

[Agate]

Best part about that suit is the crotch-window, so you can see where you're stepping. Genius.

[Motokid600]

Oh totally serious. The Apollo program seems like it was it was a huge waste with these suits. There so big they could've held enough fuel for the direct descent, sheesh.

...

...

[Pipcard]

Here's a similar one, the Republic Moon Suit:

[Slam_Jones]

LOL that thing is awesome

[Voidryder]

Here's a similar one, the Republic Moon Suit:

http://i.imgur.com/6xOkClX.jpg

The Republic Moon Suit in KSP

"Roger Bob, go for deployment of the RMS Vertical Stabilizers."

"Copy, Capcom. Deploying stabilizers now."

"Stabilizers Deployed."

"Copy Bob. Everything looks good from down here. The Geo's in the back-room want you to grab that orange coloured rock just ahead of you."

Fast Forward 1 hour

"Ok Bob, we want you to cycle the VS Breaker A again and then put the retract Stabilizers switch into position "R". We are sure it'll work this time."

.....

"Bob, the Flight Director wants me to remind you that this is a live broadcast.""

....

"Well, it's worked fine in the VAB, Bob."

Fast Forward another hour

"We copy Bob. The stabilizers are still in the deployed position and you dropped the hammer."

Fast Forward yet another hour

**Press Release: Immediate Use**

Voidryder's Aerospace is proud to announce the establishment of the first permanent Munbase. Today Commander Bob Kerman with the activation of the Republic Moon Suit's

Vertical Anchors successfully established the first fully operational Munbase Observatory. This was not a departure of the mission's original profile. It was a surprise. Surprise!!!

Edited May 15, 2015 by Voidryder

[Wesreidau]

It is interesting to note that every major defense contractor had some sort of ridiculous, over-the-top and over-engineered deathtrap proposal as a moon suit. The women at Playtex had the right stuff.

[Superluminaut]

I'm impressed, this is pretty much what we use now. Modern suits may look sleeker, but wearing them feels like what that looks like.

[Scotius]

Jeez... Pressurised or not, i would pick this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_activity_suit over that ridiculous can any day.

[Red Fang]

My question, as an armourer, is: ... was stopping them to get the shape of the body-can semi ergonomic on these prototypes? People have worked out ergonomics of rigid suits way before Coulomb established scientific principles of engineering. With 60s technology it should not have been to hard to reshape that cylinder into something less bulky. For Jeb's sake, the suits actually used for moonwalks were orders of magnitude better designed. Why make a such a half ass effort in the early stage of design?

[Motokid600]

Armourer, huh? Cool. My guess is the need for a pressure vessel. A circle being the best shape for such. And one that can store life support equipment. The tech simply wasn't there at the time because we had yet to create the space program upon which warranted the need to design and perfect the suit.

Edited May 16, 2015 by Motokid600

[Voidryder]

My question, as an armourer, is: ... was stopping them to get the shape of the body-can semi ergonomic on these prototypes? People have worked out ergonomics of rigid suits way before Coulomb established scientific principles of engineering. With 60s technology it should not have been to hard to reshape that cylinder into something less bulky. For Jeb's sake, the suits actually used for moonwalks were orders of magnitude better designed. Why make a such a half ass effort in the early stage of design?

It was the 50's and 60's. Nothing was known about working on the surface of the moon (some scientist theorized astronauts or cosmonauts would sink out of sight in the moon dust) or exactly the effects of space radiation would be human body so hard "mini-spacecraft" suits seemed wiser. Plus some of the early mission profiles imagined longer stays on the moon, so "more" comfortable suits were in fashion. Ever had a nose itch in an Apollo style helmet? So all kind of concepts were envisioned and prototypes built. And that's what these are concepts and prototypes. Look at Grumman's LEM's development. Ended up almost nothing like the original design concept.

[Wesreidau]

These suits would let you pull your arms inside and eat a sandwich, and increased the internal volume of air. This was one way to solve the pressurized-joints problem. They could have made them any shape they wanted, but these designs were deliberate.

[Newt]

My question, as an armourer, is: ... was stopping them to get the shape of the body-can semi ergonomic on these prototypes? People have worked out ergonomics of rigid suits way before Coulomb established scientific principles of engineering. With 60s technology it should not have been to hard to reshape that cylinder into something less bulky. For Jeb's sake, the suits actually used for moonwalks were orders of magnitude better designed. Why make a such a half ass effort in the early stage of design?

Not sure about these particularly, I think some had it set up so there was essentially a small work area, chair, et cetera inside of the suit, where the astronaut could sit, eat, rest et cetera (the tripod suit defenitly was something on this line). Bigger, in this view, almost would be better.

[tater]

Actually, those suits are not bad at all. A principle problem with suits is that when pressurized, it becomes very difficult to work against the inflated limbs to get anything done. In a low (or micro) gravity environment, there is really no reason to make it look like a person. Heck, EVA suits for space could be a comfy tube with arms, then they'd not need to be custom tailored. The suit itself could be an airlock. Dock back of suit to station/lander, open hatch, go inside, close hatch.

Just found a pic, obviously not a new idea:

[magnemoe]

Armourer, huh? Cool. My guess is the need for a pressure vessel. A circle being the best shape for such. And one that can store life support equipment. The tech simply wasn't there at the time because we had yet to create the space program upon which warranted the need to design and perfect the suit.

Problem is that none of this suits would solve the problems that arms and legs would blow up like balloons anyway. You see the latex gloves and boots?

Think modern suits uses an rigid top anyway, the pressure is just 1 bar or less, no issue keeping under pressure, the problem is avoiding it becoming an balloon. An suit of gothic plate armor would not be an bad starting point, you would still have problems with the elbow and crouch who also was an weak spot on armor but hard to reach.

[Wolf Baginski]

The big problem. for any pressure suit, is constant volume joints. NASA went for flexible suits, building on USAF experience, but there are movements that are impractical. There were attempts at rigid suits, echoing certain sorts of diving suit, which had different movement constraints from the way the joints worked. Either way, the astronaut has to learn how to work within the limits. NASA did test them, but their astronauts arrived with experience of the high altitude military pressure suits.

Another idea is the skin-tight elastic suit, replacing air pressure with mechanical force. It's harder than it looks, very dependent on the right materials, and it's right on the edge of possible tech even now.

All pressure suits have a minimum set by the working of the lungs. Rigid suits can allow use of normal air, oxy-nitrogen at full atmospheric pressure. But low pressure risks the nitrogen turning your blood into a fizzy drink for vampires. Divers spending time at high pressure have similar problems when they come back to the surface.

The first Russian Space Walk had problems with the suit swelling too much at design pressure. The cosmonaut struggled to get back into the capsule.

Pure oxygen is a fire risk at normal atmospheric pressure. Divers using oxy-nitrogen mixes are depth limited by toxicity problems for both gases. Instead they use an oxy-helium mix with very low percentages of oxygen: at high pressure there's enough oxygen, the helium doesn't poison them, but their voices go all squeaky.

[Albert VDS]

It's funny that the guy who designed it is called hazard.

Actually, those suits are not bad at all. A principle problem with suits is that when pressurized, it becomes very difficult to work against the inflated limbs to get anything done. In a low (or micro) gravity environment, there is really no reason to make it look like a person. Heck, EVA suits for space could be a comfy tube with arms, then they'd not need to be custom tailored. The suit itself could be an airlock. Dock back of suit to station/lander, open hatch, go inside, close hatch.

Just found a pic, obviously not a new idea:

http://themarspioneer.com/images/MarsVehicles_clip_image030.jpg

http://cyberneticzoo.com/wp-content/uploads/file/LTV-spacePod12.jpg

Those tube "suits" avoid the fact that humans already have very capable arms, no robotics needed.

Also, those things would have sparked a whole lot of controversy; "Man didn't walk on the Moon, they were still in their tube".

[Nibb31]

The flexcraft is a current concept envisioned for EVA work on the DSH. It would be similar to the "pods" in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The advantage compared to an EVA suit is that it requires less preparation, it's more comfortable, and it removes the need for an airlock.

Edited May 18, 2015 by Nibb31

[magnemoe]

The flexcraft is a current concept envisioned for EVA work on the DSH. It would be similar to the "pods" in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Z8.jpg

The advantage compared to an EVA suit is that it requires less preparation, it's more comfortable, and it removes the need for an airlock.

However you loose the flexibility of fingers. if you opperate claws you can do this better from inside the station or ground.

Who again give the benefit of placing cameras where you want them. Say one moveable head on an arm and extra camera on the hand.

[theo_sigmat]

This picture is really crazy !

[Jovus]

Of course, on the gripping hand, with our current suit designs, fingers aren't really that flexible anyway...

[Albert VDS]

The flexcraft is a current concept envisioned for EVA work on the DSH. It would be similar to the "pods" in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Z8.jpg

The advantage compared to an EVA suit is that it requires less preparation, it's more comfortable, and it removes the need for an airlock.

But would it be very heavy with that huge glass visor?