Reducing their rotation speed by 80% required a couple of hours of the small station-keeping rockets being fired in reverse. The whole crew was having a great time bouncing madly around the Hab. This activity looked much like the space-suited astronauts on the grainy TV images of the Moon landings, occurring nearly fifty years earlier. The big difference was the lack of space suits on five of the six crewmembers. Carl was in the process of suiting up and, like two mother hens, both Tom and Brandon were hovering over him lending assistance physically and imparting advice verbally.<\/p>\n
Getting into a spacesuit is a rather complicated procedure from start to finish. Not knowing how long the EVA would take, Carl began with a lengthy stay in the lavatory, prior to donning a customized diaper. Next in line is what is fondly referred to as the ‘octopus’. This contraption is a collection of wires and electrodes, which will help Valerie monitor Carl’s vital signs while he is outside the vessel. This is followed by a full body undergarment of thermal long johns which is much more heavy-duty than anything one might wear when snowboarding or slogging through snowdrifts in the Arctic.<\/p>\n
Finally, all is topped off by the canvas helmet. This specialized head covering contains the communication earpiece and throat-mic, as well as the water mouthpiece. Once the mouthpiece is attached to the body-mounted canteen by a flexible tube, the user need only bite down gently on the end to initiate the flow of water. This soft canteen, like a Bota wine bag, is strapped to the waist and positioned at the user’s lower back, out of the way. This location allows body heat to keep the water from freezing solid and the tightened straps of the backpack provide the necessary pressure to generate the flow needed to push the water up to the mouthpiece.<\/p>\n
Now Carl is ready for the outer suit. Like the undergarments, the outer suit is tailor made for each user. For this first Mars mission, a little personalization was permitted in the design phase of the individual suits. Two two-inch wide bands around the bicep area of each arm are highlighted in a color chosen by each user. There is a matching three-inch band around the right thigh and another one over the top of the helmet, front to back like a racing stripe. Carl’s preference was Hunter Orange and when the others asked why, he grinned and replied, “I don’t want anyone shooting at me, mistaking me for an alien.”<\/p>\n
Sally laughed at that and pointed out, “When we get to Mars, any life we may encounter will be the natives. We will be the aliens, and besides, no one should be doing any shooting in the first place.” She chose a color called ‘Georgia Clay’, saying that if they did meet any Martians, she wanted them to think she was one of them as her chosen color most closely matched the red, iron oxide rich Martian soil.<\/p>\n
Valerie chose fire-truck red, against the otherwise white suit, so she would be readily spotted as the chief medic. Tom picked a rich blue, a color that perfectly matched Penny’s sparkling eyes. Brandon went with the traditional Kelly green of his ancestry and also to go with his green thumb. Jackie, on the other hand, requested the opportunity to use two colors: brown and yellow to emphasize her African\/American – Chinese heritage. As Bolo One is the first crew, she was obliged by the design team and given the two stripes, but at half the width each.<\/p>\n
The spacesuit is, for all intents and purposes, an unpowered spacecraft. It is an airtight vehicle, which provides the occupant protection from the vacuum, heat, and cold of space. It also supplies crucial air and water, and contains a receptacle to get rid of waste. As to the last item, keep in mind that whatever you do in the suit stays with you until you take it off. As with small children in snowsuits, a trip to the bathroom before getting dressed is a great idea.<\/p>\n
Before donning the spacesuit, it is pressure tested by attaching the myriad components together, just as if the person was inside. The suit is pressurized above the ambient pressure of the room. Then, as the arms, legs, and torso are bent and twisted around; the pressure gauge on the left sleeve is examined for abnormalities. Any drop in pressure will be a ‘NO GO’ on that particular suit until repairs can be made. Submersion testing while pressurized was performed on all suits prior to launch, but leaks have a way of developing when you least expect them. Each member of the crew has a set of five identical suits which are all constructed with interchangeable components so that a faulty helmet from one may be switched with the helmet of another, or pants for pants, and so on.<\/p>\n
To begin the process of entering the suit, Carl slipped on the boot liners. These are sort of a felt-like material, designed not so much for cushioning the feet, but to wick perspiration away from the body. Due to the rigorous activities involved, Gemini and Apollo astronauts had been known to lose several pounds of water-weight during a single EVA. That is why the boot liners provide a way to trap perspiration and the suit has a canteen to prevent dehydration.<\/p>\n
After that, come the pants with attached boots, which eliminate two connection points where air might leak. This is followed by the top, which locks to the pants by means of an airtight fitting, which twists and snaps into place like changing the lens on a camera.<\/p>\n
Then, the gloves are pulled on. These too have a similar fitting that locks to the sleeves at the wrists. The last piece of the outer suit is the helmet. On the surface of Mars, the racing stripe model will be used. But for deep space, a slightly larger model is better suited to the task. It features a clear faceplate behind an adjustable gold visor to aid in blocking out the much more intense sunlight, unfiltered by an atmosphere.<\/p>\n
Prior to the helmet being placed on the head and secured, the suit needs to be hooked up to the umbilical line. This line is a flexible air-hose having electrical lines running through and is connected to a compact backpack built into the top of the suit. The backpack is stuffed with the medical monitoring unit, communications device, and power links for the onboard air conditioning and heating systems. There are two EVA umbilical lines onboard, both being in the ladder-well, near each of the hatches. One on the lowest level near the floor mounted hatch and the other near the hatch above the third deck ladder.<\/p>\n
After testing is completed, everything is connected, the helmet goes on, and the suit is pressurized. At only 20% of the weight the crew is normally used to hauling around, Carl is now able to move about easily, as he feels like he is only 25 kg including spacesuit. Looking every bit like a five-year-old in a snowsuit, it is now time for Carl to go outside to play.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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