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Old July 9th 06, 03:32 PM posted to sci.space.history
mike flugennock
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Posts: 285
Default identify this spacesuit ?

Thierry wrote:
Hi,

In order to complete an article about spacesuits,
could someone tell me what kind of suits are next
http://www.astrosurf.org/lombry/Scie...bert-white.jpg
for X-15 pilots, looks like a flightsuit, semi pressurised ?

http://www.astrosurf.org/lombry/Scie...-gilliland.jpg
for SR-71, looks like a spacesuit made of 2 layers, full pressurised ?

At last, what model of spacesuit used Alan Shepard in 1961 onboard Freedom 7
(look like a SR-71 suit, probably a bit modified)


You're thinking of the "Mark I", a USNavy high-altitude flight suit:
http://www.astronautix.com/craft/marodiii.htm
....modified for use in Project Mercury as:
http://www.astronautix.com/craft/meresuit.htm

....also immortalized on the cover of Devo's "New Traditionalists".

Btw, it's also interesting to note that the designers were also once
thinking of a _gold_ lamè outer layer for this suit, possibly inspired
by a recent (at the time) Elvis Presley album cover design, and possibly
would've been rejected by the astronauts en masse owing to its looking
"gay as hell".




The suit this SR71 pilots's got on _here_, though, looks a bit more like
a version of the David Clark G4C, also originally designed for extreme
high-altitude aircraft, but adapted for use in space:
http://www.astronautix.com/craft/g4c.htm
....although the Ed White EVA foto here doesn't really show enough;
here's a bit better one:
http://images.jsc.nasa.gov/lores/S65-41955.jpg
....a David Clark G4C with a helmet specifically designed to maintain the
proper pressure in the gap between Pete's teeth.


--

..

"Though I could not caution all, I yet may warn a few:
Don't lend your hand to raise no flag atop no ship of fools!"

--grateful dead.
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