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[[File:Apollo 11 space suit.jpg|thumb|[[Neil Armstrong]] described his Apollo 11 A7L suit as "tough, reliable and almost cuddly."<ref>{{cite news|title=Science Friday Archives: How to Dress for Space Travel |url=http://www.sciencefriday.com/program/archives/201103256 |newspaper=NPR |date=March 25, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111010145433/http://www.sciencefriday.com/program/archives/201103256 |archive-date=October 10, 2011 }}</ref>]]
The '''Apollo/Skylab space suit''' (sometimes called the '''Apollo 11 Spacesuit'''
The subsequent Apollo 15-17 lunar missions,<ref name="us3">
The suits used during lunar EVAs had a weight of about {{cvt|81.6|kg|lbs}}, and under lunar surface gravity a weight equivalent to {{cvt|13.6|kg|lbs}}.<ref name="Kluger 2018 z081">{{cite
== Basic design <!--DO NOT capitalize the word "design" here -- see the Manual of Style---> ==
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The base Apollo EMU design took over three years to produce. At the beginning of the Apollo program, the Apollo spacesuit had not yet received its final EMU name. Between 1962 and 1964, the spacesuit was called the Space Suit Assembly (SSA). The Apollo SSA consisted of a Pressure Garment Assembly (PGA) and a backpack Portable Life Support System (PLSS).
NASA held a competition for the Apollo SSA contract in March 1962. Each competition proposal had to demonstrate all the abilities needed to develop and produce the entire SSA. Many contractor-teams submitted proposals. Two gained NASA interest. The Hamilton Standard Division of United Aircraft Corporation proposal offered Hamilton providing the SSA program management and PLSS with David Clark Company as the PGA provider. The International Latex Corporation (ILC) proposal planned International Latex as the SSA program manager and PGA manufacturer, Republic Aviation providing additional suit experience and Westinghouse providing the PLSS.
After evaluation of the proposals, NASA preferred the Hamilton PLSS concept and program experience but the ILC PGA design. NASA elected to split the
By March 1964, Hamilton and NASA had found three successive ILC Apollo PGA designs to not meet requirements. In comparative testing, only the David Clark Gemini suit was acceptable for Apollo Command Module use. While the Hamilton PLSS met all requirements, crewed testing proved the life support requirements were inadequate, forcing the Apollo SSA program to start over.
In October 1964, NASA elected to split the spacesuit program into three parts. David Clark would provide the suits for the "Block I" early missions without extra-vehicular activity (EVA). The Hamilton/ILC program would continue as "Block II" to support the early EVA missions. The pressure suit design for Block II was to be selected in a June 1965 re-competition. To assure Block II backpack success, AiResearch was funded for a parallel backpack effort. The later, longer-duration Apollo missions would be Block III and have more advanced pressure suits and a longer duration backpack to be provided by suppliers selected in future competitions. To reflect this new start in the program, the PGA was renamed the Pressure Suit Assembly (PSA) across the programs and the Block II and III SSAs were renamed Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU).
Hamilton and International Latex were never able to form an effective working relationship. In March 1965, Hamilton switched to B. F. Goodrich as suit supplier.<ref name=tjtm>{{cite book |title= The Journey To Moonwalking |author=Kenneth S. Thomas |year= 2017 |publisher= Curtis Press |___location= Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, UK |isbn= 9-780993-400223 | pages = 99–103 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=cdO2-4szcdgC }}</ref> International Latex, in July 1965, won the Block II suit competition with its A5L design. This forced NASA to assume management of the Block II EMU program directly.<ref name=tjtm88-114>{{cite book |title= The Journey To Moonwalking |author=Kenneth S. Thomas |year= 2017 |publisher= Curtis Press |___location= Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, UK |isbn= 9-780993-400223 | pages = 88–114| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=cdO2-4szcdgC }}</ref> Before the end of 1965, Hamilton Standard completed certification of its new backpack.<ref name=tjtm80-87>{{cite book |title= The Journey To Moonwalking |author=Kenneth S. Thomas |year= 2017 |publisher= Curtis Press |___location= Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, UK |isbn= 9-780993-400223 | pages = 80–87 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=cdO2-4szcdgC }}</ref> NASA subsequently terminated the Block II AiResearch backpack, thus completing the selection of the suit/backpack designs and suppliers to support man's first walking on the Moon. However, this was not to be without improvements. The Apollo 11 EMU featured an A7L suit with a -6 (dash six) backpack reflecting seven suit and six backpack design iterations.<ref name="us2"/> The A7L was a rear entry suit made in two versions. The Extra-vehicular (EV), which would be used on the Moon and the Command Module Pilot (CMP) that was a simpler garment.<ref name="us"/> ▼
▲Hamilton and International Latex were never able to form an effective working relationship. In March 1965, Hamilton switched to B. F. Goodrich as suit supplier.<ref name=tjtm>
The ILC Dover team, however, collaborated quite well. Douglas N. Lantry, a scholar of the spacesuit manufacture in the Apollo era, notes that the teamwork displayed by the seamstresses creating the spacesuits demonstrated the effectiveness of overlapping and cross-training on each others' specialties and expertise.<ref>Lantry, D. N. (1995). Man in Machine: Apollo-Era Space Suits as Artifacts of Technology and Culture. ''Winterthur Portfolio'', ''30''(4), 203–230. <nowiki>http://www.jstor.org/stable/4618514</nowiki></ref> This team of seamstresses, led by [[Hazel Fellows]], included [[Iona Allen]], Delema Austin, Doris Boisey, Julia Brown, Delema Comegys, Joanne Thompson, Michelle Trice, Jeanne Wilson, and Delores Zeroles.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dr. Emily A. Margolis Recognizes Women in STEM {{!}} Smithsonian American Women's History Museum |url=https://womenshistory.si.edu/blog/dr-emily-margolis-recognizes-women-stem |access-date=2024-03-27 |website=womenshistory.si.edu |language=en}}</ref> ▼
▲The ILC Dover team, however, collaborated quite well. Douglas N. Lantry, a scholar of the spacesuit manufacture in the Apollo era, notes that the teamwork displayed by the seamstresses creating the spacesuits demonstrated the effectiveness of overlapping and cross-training on each others' specialties and expertise.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Lantry
The A7L pressure suits reached space flight in October 1968 aboard Apollo 7.<ref name=tjtm155-162>{{cite book |title= The Journey To Moonwalking |author=Kenneth S. Thomas |year= 2017 |publisher= Curtis Press |___location= Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, UK |isbn= 9-780993-400223 | pages = 155–162 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=cdO2-4szcdgC }}</ref> These were used as launch and reentry emergency suits. Also in 1968, NASA recognized that with modifications, the Block II EMU could additionally support the later EVA missions that involved a Lunar Rover Vehicle (LRV). This resulted in the termination of Apollo Block III in favor of an Apollo 15 through 17 EMU using an A7LB suit and a "-7" long duration backpack.<ref name="us"/>
The complete Apollo EMU made its space debut with Apollo 9 launched into space on March 3, 1969.<ref name=tjtm162-169>{{cite book |title= The Journey To Moonwalking |author=Kenneth S. Thomas |year= 2017 |publisher= Curtis Press |___location= Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, UK |isbn= 9-780993-400223 | pages = 162–169 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=cdO2-4szcdgC }}</ref> On the fourth day of the mission, Lunar Module Pilot Russell Schweickart and Commander James McDivitt went into the Lunar Module. The astronauts then depressurized both the Command and Lunar Modules. Schweickart emerged from the Lunar Module to test the backpack and conduct experiments. David Scott partially emerged from the Command Module's hatch supported by an umbilical system connected to the Command Module to observe. The EVA lasted only 46 minutes but allowed a verification of both EVA configurations of the EMU. This was the only Apollo spacewalk prior to the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission.
Apollo 11 made the A7L the most iconic suit of the program. It proved to be the primary [[pressure suit]] worn by
On July 20, 1969, the [[Apollo 11]] EMUs were prominent in television coverage of the first lunar landing. Also in 1969, International Latex elected to spin off its pressure suit business to form ILC Dover.
The basic design of the A7L suit was a one piece, five-layer "torso-limb" suit with convoluted joints made of synthetic and natural rubber at the shoulders, elbows, wrist, hips, ankle, and knee joints. A shoulder "cable/conduit" assembly allowed the suit's shoulder to move forward, backwards, up, or down with user movements. Quick disconnects at the neck and forearms allowed for the connection of the pressure gloves and the famous Apollo "fishbowl helmet" (adopted by NASA as it allowed an unrestricted view, as well as eliminating the need for a visor seal required in the [[Navy Mark IV|Mercury]] and [[Gemini Spacesuit|Gemini and Apollo Block I]] spacesuit helmets). A cover layer, which was designed to be fireproof after the deadly Apollo 1 fire, was attached to the pressure garment assembly and was removable for repairs and inspection. All A7L suits featured a vertical zipper from the helmet disconnect (neck ring), down the back, and around the crotch.
*'''Name:''' Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU)
*'''Manufacturer:''' [[ILC Dover]] (Pressure Suit Assembly) and [[Hamilton Standard]] (Portable Life Support System)<ref name="us"/>
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===Extravehicular Pressure Suit Assembly===
[[Image:IV-A7L.png|thumb|
[[Image:EV-A7L.png|thumb|
====Torso Limb Suit Assembly====
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===Portable Life Support System===
At the beginning of the Apollo spacesuit competition, no one knew how the life support would attach to the suit, how the controls needed to be arranged, or what amount of life support was needed. What was known was that in ten months, the Portable Life Support System, aka "backpack", needed to be completed to support complete suit-system testing before the end of the twelfth month. Before the spacesuit contract was awarded, the requirement for normal life support per hour almost doubled. At this point, a maximum hourly metabolic energy expenditure requirement was added, which was over three times the original requirement.<ref name=tjtm34-39>{{cite book |title= The Journey To Moonwalking |author=Kenneth S. Thomas |year= 2017 |publisher= Curtis Press |___location= Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, UK |isbn= 9-780993-400223 | pages = 34–39
▲At the beginning of the Apollo spacesuit competition, no one knew how the life support would attach to the suit, how the controls needed to be arranged, or what amount of life support was needed. What was known was that in ten months, the Portable Life Support System, aka "backpack", needed to be completed to support complete suit-system testing before the end of the twelfth month. Before the spacesuit contract was awarded, the requirement for normal life support per hour almost doubled. At this point, a maximum hourly metabolic energy expenditure requirement was added, which was over three times the original requirement.<ref name=tjtm34-39>{{cite book |title= The Journey To Moonwalking |author=Kenneth S. Thomas |year= 2017 |publisher= Curtis Press |___location= Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, UK |isbn= 9-780993-400223 | pages = 34–39 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=cdO2-4szcdgC }}</ref>
In late 1962, testing of an early training suit raised concerns about life support requirements. The concerns were dismissed because the forthcoming Apollo new-designs were expected to have lower effort mobility and improved ventilation systems. However, Hamilton took this as a strong indication that Apollo spacesuit life support requirements might significantly increase and initiated internally funded research and development in "backpack" technologies.
In the tenth month, the first backpack was completed. Manned testing found the backpack to meet requirements. This would have been a great success but for the crewed testing confirming that the 1963 life support requirements were not sufficient to meet lunar mission needs. Early in 1964, the final Apollo spacesuit specifications were established that increased normal operations by 29% and increased maximum use support 25%. Again, the volume and weight constraints did not change. These final increases required operational efficiencies that spawned the invention of the porous plate sublimator<ref name=tjtm58-59>{{cite book |title= The Journey To Moonwalking |author=Kenneth S. Thomas |year= 2017 |publisher= Curtis Press |___location= Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, UK |isbn= 9-780993-400223 | pages = 58–59
The porous plate sublimator had a metal plate with microscopic pores sized just right so that if the water flowing under the plate warmed to more than a user-comfortable level, frozen water in the plate would thaw, flow through the plate, and boil to the vacuum of space, taking away heat in the process. Once the water under the plate cooled to a user-comfortable temperature, the water in the plate would re-freeze, sealing the plate and stopping the cooling process. Thus, heat rejection with automatic temperature control was accomplished with no sensors or moving parts to malfunction.
The Apollo liquid cooling garment was an open mesh garment with attached tubes to allow cooling water to circulate around the body to remove excess body heat when needed. The garment held the tubes against the body for highly efficient heat removal. The open mesh allowed air circulation over the body to remove humidity and additionally remove body heat. In 1966, NASA bought the rights to the liquid cooling garment to allow all organizations access to this technology.
Before the first Apollo spacewalk, the backpack gained a front-mounted display and control unit named the remote control unit. This was revised for Apollo 11 to additionally provide camera attachment to provide high quality lunar pictures.
===Intravehicular (CMP) Pressure Suit Assembly===
{{Unreferenced section|date=August 2025}}[[Image:CMP-A7L.png|thumb|
====Torso Limb Suit Assembly====
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====Constant Wear Garment====
The CMP wore a simpler cotton fabric union suit called the Constant Wear Garment (CWG) underneath the TSLA instead of the water cooled Liquid Cooling Garment. His cooling came directly from the flow of oxygen into his suit via an umbilical from the spacecraft environmental control system. When not performing lunar EVA's, the LMP and CDR also wore a CWG instead of the LCG.
== Apollo 15-17, Skylab and ASTP Spacesuits ==
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Because the J-series CSMs incorporated the [[Scientific Instrument Module]] (SIM) Bay, which used special film cameras similar to those used on Air Force spy satellites, and required a "deep space" EVA for retrieval, the CMP for each of the three J-series missions wore a five-connector A7LB-based H-series A7L suits, with the liquid cooling connections eliminated as the CMP would be attached to a life-support umbilical (like that used on [[Project Gemini|Gemini]] EVAs) and only an "oxygen purge system" (OPS) would be used for emergency backup in the case of the failure of the umbilical. The CMP wore the commander's red-striped EVA visor assembly, while the LMP, who performed a "stand-up EVA" (to prevent the umbilical from getting "fouled up" and to store the film into the CSM) in the spacecraft hatch and connected to his normal life-support connections, wore the plain white EVA visor assembly.
*'''Name:''' Apollo 15-17 EMU
*'''Manufacturer:''' [[ILC Dover]] (Pressure Suit Assembly), Hamilton Standard (Primary Life Support System)
*'''Missions:''' [[Apollo program#Summary of missions|Apollo 15-17]]
*'''Function:''' Intra-vehicular activity (IVA),
*'''Operating
*'''IVA
*'''EVA
*'''Total EVA
*'''Primary
*'''Backup
=== Skylab EMU ===
[[Image:SL3-118-2180HR4 Alan Bean during Skylab 3 EVA.jpg|thumb
With the exception of the Orbital Workshop (OWS) repairs carried out by [[Skylab 2]] and [[Skylab 3]], all of the Skylab EVAs were conducted in connection to the routine maintenance carried out on the [[Apollo Telescope Mount]], which housed the station's solar telescopes. Because of the short duration of those EVAs, and as a need to protect the delicate instruments, the Apollo lunar EVA backpack was replaced with an umbilical assembly designed to incorporate both breathing air (Skylab's atmosphere was 74% oxygen and 26% nitrogen at 5 psi) and liquid water for cooling. The assembly was worn on the astronaut's waist and served as the interface between the umbilical and the suit. An emergency oxygen pack was strapped to the wearer's right thigh and was able to supply a 30-minute emergency supply of pure oxygen in the case of umbilical failure. Another unique feature of the Skylab EMU was its simplified EVA visor assembly that did not include an insulated thermal cover over the outer visor shell.
'''Specifications'''<ref name="TandM_364"/>
*'''Name:''' Skylab EMU
*'''Manufacturer:''' [[ILC Dover]] (Pressure Suit Assembly) and AiResearch{{efn|division
*'''Missions:''' [[Skylab#Mission designations|Skylab 2-4]]
*'''Function:''' Intra-vehicular activity (IVA) and
*'''Operating Pressure:''' 3.7 psi (25.5 kPa)
*'''IVA Suit Mass:''' 64.6 lb (29.3 kg)
*'''EVA Suit Mass:''' 72 lb (32.7 kg)
*'''Total EVA Suit Mass:''' 143 lb (64.9 kg)
*'''Primary Life Support:''' Vehicle
*'''Backup Life Support:''' 30 minutes
=== ASTP Spacesuit ===
[[Image:Astp-KSC-75PC-409HR.2.jpg|thumb
For the [[Apollo–Soyuz Test Project]], NASA decided to use the A7LB CMP pressure suit assembly worn on the J-missions with a few changes to save cost and weight since an EVA was not planned during the mission. The changes included a simplified cover layer which was cheaper, lighter and more durable as well as the removal of the pressure relief valve and unused gas connectors. No EVA visor assemblies or EVA gloves were carried on the mission.<ref name="ASTP Press">{{cite web|title=Apollo ASTP Press Kit|url=https://history.nasa.gov/astp/documents/astp%20press%20kit%20(us).pdf|publisher=NASA|access-date=4 March 2014|page=53|date=10 June 1975}}</ref>
The ASTP A7LB suit was the only Apollo suit to use the [[NASA logo|NASA "worm" logo]], which was introduced in 1975 and used extensively by NASA until 1992.
'''Specifications'''<ref name="TandM_364">Thomas and McMann, 2006 pp364-366</ref>
*'''Name:''' Apollo A7LB Pressure Suit Assembly
*'''Manufacturer:''' [[ILC Dover]]
*'''Missions:''' [[Apollo–Soyuz Test Project
*'''Function:''' Intra-vehicular activity (IVA)
*'''Operating
*'''IVA Suit
*'''Primary Life Support:''' Vehicle Provided
== References ==
{{notelist}}
{{reflist}}
*{{cite book |title= US Spacesuits |first1=Kenneth S. |last1=Thomas |first2=Harold J. |last2=McMann |year= 2006 |publisher= Praxis Publishing Ltd. |___location= Chichester, UK |isbn= 0-387-27919-9 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=cdO2-4szcdgC }}
*{{cite book |title= The Journey To Moonwalking |first=Kenneth S. |last=Thomas |year= 2017 |publisher= Curtis Press |___location= Great Yarmouth, UK |isbn= 9-780993-400223 | url= https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=NDK2swEACAAJ }}
== External links ==
{{Commons}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120914151455/http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/history/walking/EVAChron.pdf NASA JSC Oral History Project ''Walking to Olympus: An EVA Chronology'' PDF document.]
*
*[https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19750006726_1975006726.pdf Skylab Extravehicular Activity Development Report - 1974 (PDF document)]
*[https://history.nasa.gov/spacesuits.pdf A history of NASA space suits]
*[http://www.history.nasa.gov/alsj/tnD8093EMUDevelop.pdf APOLLO EXPERIENCE REPORT DEVELOPMENT OF THE EXTRAVEHICULAR MOBILITY (PDF Document)]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20000815232614/http://www.apolloarchive.com/
*[https://history.nasa.gov/alsj/ILC-SpaceSuits-RevA.pdf ILC Spacesuits and Related Products]
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