How To Dress For Space
The Artemis 2 mission will be a 10-day mission to the moon and back. The purpose of this mission is primarily to test out the Orion spacecraft for the future missions where we will go and land on the lunar surface.
One of the fun things that we will actually be doing is donning the suits while we're in microgravity and actually experiencing them in the true pressurized weightless environment in the vehicle. I'm Dustin Gomer. I'm the Orion crew survival system manager, NASA Johnson Space Center, and this is how you dress for space.
The team here at Johnson Space Center in the Orion Crew Survival Systems Lab does pretty much everything involved with processing the suits, designing the suits, qualifying them for the Orion mission. The Orion crew survival system OCSS or OX is the suit designed to keep the crew safe in an atmosphere, personal atmosphere around their body for launch, entry, landing, but also for long duration events in case there was an emergency on the way to the moon.
There's several unique parameters that have to be designed in such a suit such as how much pressure it can hold, the duration it can hold the pressure for, the amount of leakage that comes out of the suit, all the physiological functions.
Each suit that the crew wears is custom-built for their unique anatomy, your personal environment. It's a personal pressure vessel. It's in the simplest terms a body shaped balloon. Each fit check, the crew gets practice donning and doffing the suit to understand how to rapidly get the suit on in the event of an emergency. The suit is put on very much like any other garment. Instead of the zipper being in the front, it's in the back, though. The pants are put on very much just like any pair of pants. And then you would climb into the suit and stand up. Your head will come through the neck ring and the suit is effectively donned. Generally, you get a buddy to help you zip it up from behind and then you can don your gloves, your helmet, and at that point, you're effectively sealed inside the suit.
You may think you recognize the suit that we're designing from its heritage um in the shuttle program. There is very much similarities between this suit and that flown in the shuttle, the advanced crew escape suit. The OX suit, however, is very specifically designed for its unique mission. This unique mission is long duration survival in the space capsule environment. In this context, if you're circling the moon or in transit to the moon and have to do a spin around to come back, it could take up to 6 days to return home. In this case, the suit has to be designed perfect to the occupant wearing it. The person is provided with all the necessities to support life for that duration, including food, drink, air, and bodily waste management. as well. The orange layer is actually Nomex and the Nomex is designed to keep the crew safe in case of a contingency heat or flashover event. The orange in particular is chosen because the capsule lands at sea. So, International Orange is very very visible for maritime recovery. The blue V that runs down the chest of the suit is part of the torso harness that's sewn underneath the cover layer. Each of those is designed for reflectivity. Should crew come in, shine a light on them, instantly they know where to grab and how to save the crew.
Working here on these suits is an absolute privilege. The weight of it is also incredible. And knowing the ultimate responsibility that you and the team share, that crew is the number one priority.
It's kind of overwhelming in a sense. Um it's it's exciting in a sense. It's it's awe-inspiring in every possible way. I have a feeling when the day comes, when the launch happens, when the crew is up there and everything's safe, um there's going to be a massive sigh, a massive sense of just joy that we all feel. We're all looking forward to it. It's going to be amazing.
Decide whether each statement is true, false, or never mentioned at all. One try each.
The suits are designed to be the same size for all crew members.
The orange color of the suit helps with sea recovery visibility.
The crew practices putting on the suit quickly in emergencies.
The video explains how the suits are cleaned after use.
Choose the best answer for each question. One try each.
What is the main purpose of the Artemis 2 mission?
Why is the blue V on the suit important?
How long could the transit around the moon take according to the video?
What is the purpose of the Nomex orange layer on the suit?
Answer each question in your own words. Your writing saves as you type.
Explain why each suit is custom-built for the crew member's anatomy.
Describe how the crew puts on the suit and what makes it different from regular clothing.
Choose a word, then the meaning that goes with it. Matched pairs move to the top. Two tries per pair.
Choose the meaning that fits each word. One try each.
leakage
pressure
anatomy
in the event of
an absolute privilege
physiological
heritage
garment
number one priority
vessel
microgravity
atmosphere
in the simplest terms
Drag a word from the bank into a gap, or select the word and then the gap. Select a filled gap to send the word back. Two tries per gap.
- 1For the engineers in the lab, working on the crew’s suits is an absolute privilege.
- 2Each suit is custom-built for the unique anatomy of the astronaut.
- 3The suit is designed to keep the crew safe in an atmosphere around their body.
- 4The suit is put on much like any other garment, except that the zip is at the back.
- 5The suit must hold the correct pressure to protect the wearer.
- 6The crew practices putting on the suit quickly in the event of an emergency.
- 7The engineer explains the whole suit in the simplest terms so that anyone can picture it.
- 8The safety of the crew is the number one priority for the team designing the suits.
- 9The astronauts will wear the suits while in microgravity during the mission.
- 10The design of the suit comes from its heritage in the shuttle program.
- 11The suit acts as a personal pressure vessel.
- 12The suit supports all the physiological functions of the crew member.
- 13Engineers check the amount of leakage that comes out of the suit.
In each sentence, choose the word that could take the place of the highlighted one. One try each.
You may think you recognize the suit that we're designing from its heritage um in the shuttle program.
It's in the simplest terms a body shaped balloon.
The suit is put on very much like any other garment.
Working here on these suits is an absolute privilege.
while we're in microgravity and actually experiencing them in the true pressurized weightless environment in the vehicle.
Each suit that the crew wears is custom-built for their unique anatomy,
that crew is the number one priority.
or OX is the suit designed to keep the crew safe in an atmosphere, personal atmosphere around their body for launch, entry, landing,
Each fit check, the crew gets practice donning and doffing the suit to understand how to rapidly get the suit on in the event of an emergency.
such as how much pressure it can hold, the duration it can hold the pressure for,
all the physiological functions.
the amount of leakage that comes out of the suit,
It's a personal pressure vessel.
These prompts are for talking through with your teacher — nothing to type or send here.
Video: NASA Johnson Space Center (public domain). Engible is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, NASA.