Apollo Space Suits: "Zero G and Space Suits" 1988 NASA Lewis Research; CMP-247

more at http://quickfound.net/

"Life and the Universe" Part 3

'The space suit worn by Apollo astronauts is described. Weightlessness is also explained using animation. Astronauts are seen in zero-g and during extravehicular activity.'

Originally a public domain film, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and one-pass brightness-contrast-color correction & mild video noise reduction applied.

The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_suit

Wikipedia license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

A space suit is a garment worn to keep a human alive in the harsh environment of outer space, vacuum and temperature extremes. Space suits are often worn inside spacecraft as a safety precaution in case of loss of cabin pressure, and are necessary for extravehicular activity (EVA), work done outside spacecraft. Space suits have been worn for such work in Earth orbit, on the surface of the Moon, and en route back to Earth from the Moon. Modern space suits augment the basic pressure garment with a complex system of equipment and environmental systems designed to keep the wearer comfortable, and to minimize the effort required to bend the limbs, resisting a soft pressure garment's natural tendency to stiffen against the vacuum. A self-contained oxygen supply and environmental control system is frequently employed to allow complete freedom of movement, independent of the spacecraft.

Three types of space suits exist for different purposes: IVA (intravehicular activity), EVA (extravehicular activity), and IEVA (intra/extravehicular activity)...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo/Skylab_A7L

The names for both the Apollo and Skylab spacesuits were Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU). The Apollo EMUs consisted of a Pressure Suit Assembly (PSA) aka "suit" and a Portable Life Support System (PLSS) that was more commonly called the “backpack”. The A7L was the PSA model used on the Apollo 7 through 14 missions. The subsequent Apollo 15-17 lunar missions, Skylab, and Apollo-Soyuz Test Project used A7LB pressure suits...

The basic design of the A7L suit was a one piece, five-layer "torso-limb" suit with convoluted joints made of synthetic and natural rubber at the shoulders, elbows, wrist, hips, ankle, and knee joints. A shoulder "cable/conduit" assembly allowed the suit’s shoulder to move forward, backwards, up, or down with user movements. Quick disconnects at the neck and forearms allowed for the connection of the pressure gloves and the famous Apollo "fishbowl helmet" (adopted by NASA as it allowed an unrestricted view, as well as eliminating the need for a visor seal required in the Mercury and Gemini and Apollo Block I spacesuit helmets). A cover layer, which was designed to be fireproof after the deadly Apollo 1 fire, was attached to the pressure garment assembly and was removable for repairs and inspection. All A7L suits featured a vertical zipper from the helmet disconnect (neck ring), down the back, and around the crotch...

For the last three Apollo lunar flights Apollos 15, 16, and 17, the spacesuits were extensively revised. The pressure suits were called A7LB, which came in two versions. The Extra-vehicular (EV) version was a new mid-entry suit that allowed greater mobility and easier operations with the lunar rover. The A7LB EV suits were designed for longer duration J-series missions, in which three EVAs would be conducted and the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) would be used for the first time. Originally developed by ILC-Dover as the "A9L," but given the designation "A7LB" by NASA,[19] the new suit incorporated two new joints at the neck and waist. The waist joint was added to allow the astronaut to sit on the LRV and the neck joint was to provide additional visibility while driving the LRV. Because of the waist joint, the six life-support connectors were rearranged from the parallel pattern to a set of two "triangles," and the up-and-down back zipper was revised and relocated. The "zipper" is actually a misnomer in that the A7L entry was through two zippers sown over each other. The inner zipper had rubber teeth and provided sealing. The outer (externally visible) zipper was a conventional metal toothed slider for mechanical restraint. The A7LB had two pairs of such zipper sets that intersected on the right side of the suit above the waist joint. Opening the suit required undoing a clasp that held the zipper sets together.

In addition, the EVA backpacks were modified to carry more oxygen, lithium hydroxide (LiOH), more power, and cooling water for the longer EVAs...