Space Suits for Lunar Exploration: Apollo to Constellation
- Paper number
IAC-08.A1.5.9
- Author
Mr. Terrence G. Reese, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)/Headquarters, United States
- Coauthor
Mr. Craig Dinsmore, NASA Johnson Space Center, United States
- Year
2008
- Abstract
NASA’s Apollo program landed twelve people on the Moon and returned them safely to earth. We equipped our astronauts with space suits and portable life support systems that both protected them from the harsh environments of space and surface operations and also gave them sufficient mobility to explore, conduct experiments and select lunar material to return to Earth. The systems were capable of providing a pressurized environment during launch, entry and docking operations and sustaining an astronaut for up to 7 hours of extravehicular activity on the lunar surface. With Constellation, NASA has embarked on a new program with plans to return Astronauts to the Moon approximately fifty years after Apollo. They will return with new technology and with plans to further explore the Moon and to gain experience in living and working away from Earth for extended periods of time. To accomplish these goals, the program will need new and more capable space suits and life support systems. Mission durations of weeks, not days, and space suit systems that will allow multiple sorties from a habitat, with surface missions four times longer than those of Apollo, will be a significant challenge. Requirements for exploration of the south-polar region, increased distances from the lunar base, and the need for greater reliability will drive new advances in space suit technology beyond that of Apollo and the current technology used on Space Station. This paper compares the attributes, technology and performance of the Apollo-era suits to the suits to be developed in the next decade for our return to the Moon.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
(absent)