Topic > Innovation in Engineering: Apollo 11 Spacesuits

When engineers took on the task of putting a man in space and on the moon, they knew they would face countless challenges. They were breaking new ground but they were also creating and discovering everything as they went. There were many spacesuits before the Apollo missions, many of them prototypes or concepts, but very few were used on space missions. But the Apollo suit was supposed to be very different from all the others in that it had to go to a place where no space suit was ever designed to go, the Moon. In this report I will describe the functions that spacesuits must perform. What kind of environment do they need to survive. And what was installed on these suits to allow them to perform and survive these functions and environments. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The surface of the moon does not contain many properties similar to those we experience on earth. For starters, it has no atmosphere and therefore no gases are contained within the non-existent atmosphere. Due to these properties there is no oxygen for astronauts to breathe. Since there is no atmosphere on the Moon, it essentially shares the same properties as space. For this reason, the surface of the Moon is empty. That said, the pressure on the lunar surface is 1.3x10-11 Pa. The average atmospheric pressure on Earth is 1.020x105 Pa. That is 8 quadrillion times higher than the pressure on the Moon. The temperature of the space is approximately 270°C in direct sunlight and -170°C without sunlight. We do not experience these cold temperatures on earth as our atmosphere protects us. It stays cooler in direct sunlight and warmer when not exposed to sunlight, such as at night. The engineers tasked with making the spacesuit for Apollo 11 would have to effectively create a mini atmosphere around the astronauts, but still be flexible enough to carry out tasks on the moon's surface. Spacesuits prior to Apollo 11 were essentially improved high-altitude suits. This means that they allowed the astronaut to breathe in the cockpit of his spaceship during spaceflight. All models had a small artificial atmosphere inside them and some incorporated built-in radio communication devices. One thing that all spacesuits used in spaceflight before Apollo 11 have in common is the umbilical cord. The umbilical cord was the term given to the tube that connected the space suit to the ship. Oxygen mixtures were passed through this tube to allow the astronaut to breathe, as well as radio communication cables and vital information. Spacewalks were essentially when an astronaut purposely steps out of a spacecraft into space. This was the beginning of the Apollo 11 spacesuit as many of the same requirements were needed for both types of spacesuits. These spacesuits had to be able to withstand small meteorites hitting them, as well as create a small atmosphere inside the spacesuits and provide the astronaut with oxygen, cooling and radio communications. But these suits still had the umbilical cord design incorporated. This was something that had to be eliminated for the Apollo 11 mission. The ILC Dover company, a bra manufacturing company, was chosen from a shortlist of candidates to design and create the space suit while The Hamilton Standard was chosen to create the life support. i.e. the "backpack". For so many, further innovation would be needed to create thisengineering masterpiece. The spacesuit would have to have a soft design for the amount of flexibility they needed to complete the tasks they needed to perform. Spacesuits at the time were between the idea of ​​having a hard design, being mostly made up of metal, or a soft design that would be mostly made entirely of fabric. Rigid designs would be easier to create and seal effectively, and engineers would be more accustomed to working with metal. But the soft design was superior in that it allowed astronauts greater mobility needed for scientific research, takeoff, and landing. The spacesuit's oxygen supply would be very different from previous ones. This time it had to be placed in a "backpack" (life support system) that the astronaut had to wear. The oxygen tanks and filtration system were located inside the backpack and were connected to the main spacesuit via tubes. The tubes had a dial on the side to direct the flow, there were two options, 50% to the helmet and 50% to the arms and legs. Or 100% to the helmet. The backpack was capable of supplying the suit with 2.8 liters-1 or 5.7 liters-1 of oxygen. The suit could also be connected to the spaceship's oxygen supply, but this function was almost never used. The suit was also supposed to protect the astronaut from small asteroids or micrometeorites. The suit's fabric had many layers of different materials to protect against this and other effects of space. The outer layer had a TeFlou® fabric which was very effective in controlling and insulating the user from solar radiation. The second layer was something called "Super Beta Cloth". This material can resist heat up to 650°C. This was a must after the fire in the cockpit of Apollo 1 that killed all three astronauts. The rest of the layers were made up of alternating Mylar®, Dacron®, and Beta Marquisette films, all of which worked very well in protecting the astronauts from solar and galactic radiation. The helmets they had were made up of two parts. The first was the original glass "fishbowl" (pressure helmet) that covered the astronaut's entire head and connected with special fittings that maintained the seal. This internal part had a small valve that could be used to pass food through in the event of an emergency and the spacesuits could not be removed. The second part was the extravehicular visor assembly that went over the pressure-fit helmet and had multiple visors made of polycarbonate and gold-coated polysulfone to protect the astronaut from solar radiation and intense sunlight. The space suits were made up of multiple layers, one of which happened before the actual space suit itself. Under the heavy space suit made of the material referred to in the previous paragraph, the astronauts wore a full layer. It was called a heat exchange system and was like a modified set of "johns". The fabric would be covered with small plastic tubes. Through these plastic tubes, cold water was pumped from the backpack to cool the astronaut from his own body heat. It worked in much the same way as a refrigerator. In this layer there was also a system for collecting urine. Since the astronauts had no other means of urinating, a tube was placed inside the astronaut's urethra (much like in hospitals for bedridden patients) and was piped into a collection system in the astronaut's backpack . As for defecation, a return to the astronaut's youth was necessary, since adult diapers were provided for the trip. There wasn't (and still isn't) a better way to manage waste. This would be the first 2019].