Table of Contents

Living inside a Spacesuit

Parts and Pieces

The modern spacesuit and its accessories are made of a number of flexible and rigid parts. The suit itself is made of fourteen successive layers of material. Inside, a succession of layers ensures the maintenance of adequate temperature and humidity levels. In the middle, a layer controls the expansion of the suit under internal pressure. The outer layers provide thermal insulation as well as protection against micrometeorites.

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In addition to the suit, a number of accessories are required. The primary life support system, or PLSS, is a backpack that is quite large, and which contains, among others, equipment for oxygen supply, elimination of carbon dioxide, power supply, water-cooling and ventilation systems as well as communication systems.

The hard upper torso, or HUT, protects the astronauts’ torso and is used to support the other parts of the suit. The display and control module, or DCM, is mounted on the hard upper torso and enables the astronaut to control all the systems of the suit.

The electrical harness, or EEH, connects the inside of the suit to the PLSS, enabling radio communications and the monitoring of the astronauts’ vital signs. The secondary oxygen pack, or SOP, connects to the bottom of the PLSS and is used in emergencies only. The lower torso assembly, or LTA, is the lower half of the closure at the waist.

The maximum absorption garment, or MAG provides the astronaut with a means of collecting urine and pulling it away from the body for the duration of a spacewalk. The elements of the suit also include the arms (left and right), gloves, helmet, visor and the drink bag.

The suits are no longer tailor made for each astronaut, like they were for the Apollo missions, for example. Instead, there is a large inventory of parts of various sizes which, when combined, can be perfectly fitted for individuals of most sizes.

The “Weight” of a Spacesuit

Given the technology they contain, spacesuits must be heavy_and indeed they are, weighing approximately 127 kg (280 lbs). As if an astronaut’s job wasn’t difficult enough! But there is an advantage to working in space, and that is the weightlessness. In a microgravity environment, everything that has mass appears to have no weight. It is therefore possible to perform movements in space that would be impossible to attempt on Earth, like putting in motion objects that are clearly more massive than us. This ease is even more noticeable since the direct consequence of the absence of atmosphere is that there is no ambient air providing resistance against the movements. However, the atmosphere inside the suit can, in some ways, limit these advantages, as we will see in the following sections.

It isn’t as easy to don a spacesuit as it is to get dressed in the morning! Experienced astronauts, however, manage to do so in about fifteen minutes.

• Pressure in a Spacesuit