High fashion

December 21, 2010 5:00 PM

A space wardrobe - images of the National Air and Space Museum’s collection of spacesuits from throughout the history of American space exploration.
posted by Artw (9 comments total)

Strange that it doesn't include suits from the Space Shuttle program. Also, to the Apollo astronauts, those that walked on the moon, wear two different suits, one for blast off and another for walking on the moon? Or was there some sort of combination there?
posted by nomadicink at 5:50 PM on December 21, 2010

It's amazing how frail some of the earliest suits appear.
posted by bwg at 5:55 PM on December 21, 2010

The older suits look sad and abandoned, somehow. The Mark V especially; that thing's a Frankenstein's monster of utility clothing. It means well, but it's... creepy.
posted by cmyk at 6:01 PM on December 21, 2010

You want to see a really depressing spacesuit?
posted by Artw at 6:04 PM on December 21, 2010

nomadicink - Apollo astronauts wore the A7L but left the PLSS "backpacks" on the lunar surface.

Photographer Mark Avino explains how he x-rayed the suits and stitched the images together.
posted by djb at 6:23 PM on December 21, 2010 [1 favorite]

Smithsonian article from 2009 about spacesuit conservation; I thought I had seen it on the blue but can't find it there.
posted by TedW at 7:18 PM on December 21, 2010 [1 favorite]

They don't make bad stage clothes, either!
posted by Kronos_to_Earth at 1:59 AM on December 22, 2010

Overheating zippers (probably a good thing those were on the back and not in the fly region), micrometeroids, water-cooled underwear: a lot of challenges here. Maybe TLC can create some kind of design competition show for this. "NASA's Next Top Spacewear Designer"
posted by Ranindaripley at 2:12 PM on December 22, 2010

Thanks for sharing! I particularly enjoyed the "futuristic" look of the hard shelled #14!
posted by Jade Dragon at 3:08 PM on December 22, 2010