Taking Customized Suits to the Next Level

Astronauts need space suits to survive the harsh environmental conditions in space. The earliest spacesuits were air tight versions of the flight suits that fighter pilots used. In the older space suits it was a major problem adjusting internal pressure. Alexei Leonov was almost stranded outside his spacecraft on a spacewalk in 1965 when his suit ballooned out due to internal pressure. With improvements in technology the things got better.

The A7L space suits developed for the astronauts on the Apollo missions had constant volume joints that didn’t allow spacesuits to balloon out due to internal pressure. They also had an air recycling unit that allowed the astronauts longer duration of use. Not to mention the 100 m of piping added to the suit which pumped cooling water around it. New age space suits have has so many science experiments done on them, and they still continue to change and evolve.

Needless to say each spacesuit needs to be tailor made for the astronaut who will be using it. Each body measurement is customized before the suit is built. A single space suit for an astronaut costs about $500,000, now that is an astronomical cost. Considering the fact that an astronaut on a space mission needs a minimum of three space suits, you have to admit that it’s quite an expensive wardrobe that they have.