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JustinTime55 (talk | contribs) m JustinTime55 moved page Apollo/Skylab A7L to Apollo/Skylab spacesuit: Current title violates WP:COMMONNAME; A7L is cryptic, and no mention that this is a spacesuit |
Ian R Bryce (talk | contribs) m Missing space |
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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&source=gbs_navlinks_s }}</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&source=gbs_navlinks_s }}</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&source=gbs_navlinks_s }}</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"/>
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