Space suits

SPACESUITS

A space suit as you have seen in pictures is a whitewashed balloon-type costume that astronauts wear. Technically it is a pressurized garment that astronauts wear to recreate earth-like pressure and atmospheric conditions inside the suit. 

First of all, why do you need a spacesuit? 

Well, it's space. What did you expect? It's not a field trip. There's zero pressure in space, which means all the oxygen in your body is going to expand making your blood boil and your lungs burst. Indeed, space is rude. 

Materials used: 

There are tens and hundreds of different materials used to make a single space suit. There's TEFLON for bulletproof behaviour, there's NYLON and spandex for stretchability. There's KEVLAR for fireproofing. There are more carbon based fibres used like plastic and a variety of different synthetic polysters.  

Layers/Sections of spacesuit: 

• Diapers and cooling garments
• 300 feel/ ~100 meters of plastic water tubing to keep you cool embedded in the cooling garments. 
• 11 layered spacesuit fabric that consists of the upper torso and the lower torso. The eleven layers include: 
• 1 Bladder layer to regulate pressure
• 5 Layers of Mylar to regulate temperature
• 1 Waterproof layer
• 1 Fireproof layer
• 1 Bulletproof layer
• Helmet and Communication
• Constructive Life support system 
• Control module - a casing to the radio communication

Yes, you need a bulletproof layer because you wear this suit while you go for a spacewalk. And as I said, space is very rude. There are tiny little asteroids revolving around Earth with a speed greater than the speed of a bullet, so trust me, you need this layer. 

If you must have observed, there's a huge bagpack at the back of the suit. It is filled with useful stuff. It has two oxygen tanks containing 7 hours worth of oxygen supply. There are carbon dioxide removal filters, batteries, cooling system and communication equipment. That's a lot of stuff and weighs somewhat 100 killos. Overall, a white spacesuit back from the Apollo days, weighs 125 killos (~275 pounds). That's a lot of weight! Wondering how an astronaut can bare this on his/her shoulder? Well, everything is weightless in space. You don't feel a single gram of weight. Life get's so simple up there. 

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That's all for today. Will be back with an amazing topic next week. Till then, happy reading. Hey, it's Hardik, signing off.