The Strongest Armor —— Evolution History of Spacesuit

Is that so?

Or, like this

Neither, neither. ...

On May 30, 2020, NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Benken set off for the International Space Station of Space Exploration Technology Corporation, which was the first commercial flight. In this mission, the spacesuits worn by the two astronauts are different from the heavy space shuttle spacesuits of pumpkin color in the past, and modern black and white colors are adopted.

Although the current spacesuit is light, safe, cool and modern, its evolutionary history is quite long.

One of the earliest spacesuit prototypes in the world was produced in Australia and can be traced back to 1894. That suit is a wireframe structure and covered with waterproof material. As for its practicality in space, no one knows.

19 18, Fred Sampo, an American, applied for a patent for a pressure suit for the first time, which can provide oxygen for pilots flying at higher altitudes or climbers climbing mountains. Early compression suits are made of elastic materials, which have many similarities with modern spacesuits, such as airtight clothes, freely wearable helmets and pipes that can provide compressed air.

More than a decade later, American pilot Willie Post improved the compression suit, adding cotton to the fabric and changing it into a metal helmet with a round glass mask. The whole compression suit is also composed of several layers, which looks like a modern astronaut. He successfully flew over 40,000 feet with his own equipment.

The first spacesuit that really went into space was the SK- 1 spacesuit of the former Soviet Union. /KOOC-0/96/KOOC-0/April/KOOC-0/2, the former Soviet astronaut yuri gagarin went into space for the first time in the "Oriental/KOOC-0/0" spacecraft. The spacesuit he was wearing at that time was a pressurized spacesuit named "SK- 10" made by NPP Zvezda Company. SK- 1 As the first spacesuit that really went into space, it was so simple, only equipped with the simplest life support system and pressurized design, but the design of this spacesuit laid the foundation for the future spacesuit.

On May 5 of the same year, the United States, unwilling to lag behind, launched the manned Mercury spacecraft Freedom 7, which entered orbit around the Earth for the first time. The seven dancing boys in the photo are not the "Seven Masters of Mercury". The "Mercury Spacesuit" they wear, numbered XN- 1, is an improved pressure suit of the US Navy's high-altitude jet. The spacesuit is the first suit of NASA. It was originally designed to help astronauts resist ultraviolet rays and thermal radiation from space, so it can only be worn in the spacecraft cabin (that is, IVA moves in the cabin) and cannot go out for spacewalks.

In the mid-1960s, when the Gemini Plan was implemented, the United States developed the second generation space suit. This kind of spacesuit is covered with a layer of net made of PTFE mixed material outside the air pressure bag. Because the "Gemini Plan" requires astronauts to carry out extravehicular activities, compared with the "soft" Mercury spacesuit, the Gemini spacesuit is full of elasticity and excellent in sports when pressurized.

The third generation spacesuit developed by the United States, the most famous spacesuit is A7L used by Apollo to land on the moon. 1On July 20th, 969, when Armstrong took "one small step for himself and one giant step for mankind" on the moon, he wore A7L spacesuit. At that time, the equipment was quoted at $654.38 million (equivalent to $670,000 today). It is made of 2 1 layer composite materials, such as neoprene elastomer and metallized polyester film, to resist the threat of extremely hot and extremely cold temperature difference on the surface of the moon, deadly solar radiation and flying meteorite fragments. Compared with the previous spacesuit, the fundamental difference of Apollo spacesuit is that it adopts a portable life support system, that is, the life support system is fixed on the back for oxygen supply, carbon dioxide purification and body heat dissipation.

Starting from 198 1, NASA began to use a new generation of off-board mobile units (EMUs), and its value increased by an order of magnitude. At the beginning of the movie Gravity, the hero wears it to hover around the space shuttle. This suit is a two-piece spacesuit, which is different from the spacesuit that had to be tailored for each astronaut before. EMU adopts modular design, and many components can be replaced separately. The whole body is a hard metal structure, and only the joints are wrinkled and soft structures. At present, the total weight of the largest EMU is about 1.80kg, including liquid-cooled ventilation coat, urine collection device, helmet, communication facilities, drinking water bag and physiological index monitoring system, which can allow astronauts to stay in space for 8 hours.

Russia also has a famous suit-Orlando/орлан/Sea-facing suit, designed and manufactured by NPP Zvezda. Astronauts from Russia, the United States, Europe, Canada and China have all used Orlan spacesuits.

In 20 19, NASA launched a new generation of spacesuit "exploring extravehicular mobility device" xEMU to prepare for landing on the moon again. This generation is safer, even if you change a module, you can go to Mars. Although the upgrade of NASA has improved the performance of the spacesuit, it is still mercilessly vomited by Twitter users: the performance of the spacesuit is great, but it is really ugly.

But at least you don't have to dance with rabbits, do you?

(The article is integrated from the network)