[imagesource: Xinhua News Agency / Liu Jie / Getty Images]

Hollywood skips over the part in space movies about how complicated a spacesuit actually is.

They’re essentially a human-shaped spacecraft that allows the astronaut to “autonomously explore and do meaningful work outside the comfort of the spacecraft or space station.”

Instead of being something an astronaut can quickly and easily slip on, it takes up to four hours to suit up.

The routine to get ready for a spacewalk is intense and involves ensuring that there are enough critical supplies, such as oxygen and water.

Back on the ground, flight controllers follow a procedure plan that’s around 30 pages long to support the astronaut on their spacewalk.

This is according to CNN, via Cathleen Lewis, the curator of international space programs and spacesuits at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum.

Making the spacesuit is an ordeal on its own – made up of nearly six different components, it can have up to 16 layers, according to NASA.

They’re so complicated that ‘spacesuit’ doesn’t even cut it. Instead, NASA calls them exploration extravehicular mobility units.

Otherwise known as xEMU, these latest spacesuits will be worn by astronauts during the Artemis missions, which is NASA’s next program to send the first woman and the first person of colour to the moon in 2024.

NASA revealed a ground prototype of the new xEMU in 2019 at NASA Headquarters in Washington – the image above shows this.

Richard Rhodes, the deputy lead for xEMU pressure garment development at NASA, gives us the lowdown:

One of the main components is the cooling garment, said Rhodes.

The garment is made of tubes that circulate water around the astronaut, regulating body temperature and removing excess heat as they completes their work.

Each spacesuit has a portable life support system, which includes a water tank for the cooling garment, carbon dioxide removal system and more, according to NASA.

This component also includes a two-way radio system so the astronauts can communicate.

These spacesuits are worlds apart from the original ones used during the Apollo missions, which were way less flexible and less involved.

Wearing such a chunky garment in zero-gravity, frigid conditions can make an astronaut feel terribly cumbersome, but they mostly complain about the gloves:

“Gloves are very difficult to design to be protective and also allow the manual dexterity that astronauts need to do meaningful work,” [Lewis] noted.

The pressurised gloves can feel constricting, especially after hours of work in space, she said. Their fingers also get cold, so heating elements need to be built into the gloves.

For dexterity training before going into space, astronauts have to learn how to pick up a dime underwater.

We have to admire anybody who is able to manage such a simple task with fingers like stuffed sausages:

Generally, though, the suits need to be “light enough to support the lunar mission and robust enough to protect the astronaut while working in the very hazardous lunar environment,” Rhodes said.

That means that the spacesuits will also be getting some upgrades for the latest lunar mission.

Of course, all the components needed for the development of the xEMU have cost NASA a few arms and legs.

More than $300 million over the last four years, to be precise.

Makes sense.

[source:cnn]