14 Amazing Spacesuit Designs

These are 14 of the most awesome space suits designs by NASA and a few others like the safety prepared fire resistant Skylab suit! 8. The Advanced Crew Escape Suit The Advanced Crew Escape Suit or ACES was first used back in 1994 and was fully functional until the end of the Shuttle program. It is made by the David Clark Company located in Massachusetts. Each of the spacesuits is sized based on the individual and they each have their own ventilation system, a full pressure helmet, a one-piece pressure garment assembly, and heavy black leather boots with zippers. There have been no incidents in which these suits have failed during a space mission. 7. The Sokol space suit The Sokol is a Russian space suit that was worn by all the individuals who fly on the Soyuz spacecraft. It’s designed as a type of rescue suit which keeps the person inside alive in case there’s ever an incident where there is an accidental depressurization of the spacecraft. First introduced in 1973, this type of suit is still being used, as of 2015, and it’s the same type of suit that the astronauts from NASA wear during launching and landing. Weighing in at around 10 kg, this suit uses an open-circuit life support system, although it can’t be used for Spacewalks or Extravehicular Activity. 6. The Constellation Space Suit The design concept for the Constellation space suit was made public by NASA back in June of 2008 and the manufacturers will be Oceaneering International. The constellation suit system is the main component of the Extravehicular Activity system for NASA’s Space Exploring Program. It’s made to increase the layout on small crew vehicles and to help protect the astronauts while launching, re-entering, landing and during extreme emergencies such as cabin depressurization. The suits would potentially be put to use in aiding the construction of an outpost on the moon. 5. The Gemini Space Suit These suits were all built by the David Clark Company located in Massachusetts based on the designs by NASA that were based on the X-15 high-altitude pressure suit. These suits have gone through multiple redesigns throughout the ages. The G3C and G4C space suits were worn for all missions with the exception of Gemini 7. The G3C has up to 6 layers of nylon and Nomex. It also had detachable gloves, a full-pressure helmet, and combat-style boots, while the G4C had additional layers of Mylar insulation installed to control the internal temperature. 4. The Navy Mark IV This spacesuit was made for high altitude pressures and was constructed by the B.F. Goodrich Company, along with the U.S. Navy. These are the suits that are to be worn for all Project Mercury space flights. It was first established during the late 1950s and it happened to be the lightest pressure suit back in that time period. NASA choose to use these suits in order to protect the astronauts in case there was ever a sudden depressurization of the cabin. The astronauts were each given 3 pressure suits, one being for training, the second for the flight and the third suit as a backup. All the suits added up together at a cost of $200,00. 3. The I-Suit The I-Suit is constructed by ILC Dover. It was created for multiple purposes such as planetary excursions and microgravity EVA. It’s considered as a pioneer in all soft-suit stakes because of its joint mobility, structural loads, and its pressure and resizing capabilities. This suit is just like the EMU except that the fiberglass upper torso has been replaced with a soft upper torso and instead of using stainless steel, it used lightweight titanium. Another cool feature is that this suit has a life supporting backpack attached to it. 2. The Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) The Extravehicular Mobility Unit spacesuit was first introduced way back in 1981 and the first of this type of suit made its way into space the following year. The suit is capable of providing life support, mobility, communication, and protection for the astronauts that work in Earth’s orbit. This suit was designed as a two-piece semi-rigid suit and is currently being used by the ISS, however, they will be replaced with the new Z series in the future. 1. The Z series Named the best invention of 2012 by Time Magazine, this series of EVA spacesuits happen to be prototypes that are currently being created by NASA’s Advanced Exploration Systems program. The Z-1 spacesuits are made up of several solid mobility elements when pressurized but when unpressurized the main structures are malleable fabrics. It was designed and developed by ILC Dover, just like the I-suit. The successor of the Z-1, the Z-2 suit, has improved designs to the shoulders and hips and will be designed with the ability to interface with the Portable Life Support System.