No one ever donned a space suit because it was comfy. Quite the opposite–space suits can be terribly uncomfortable because of the layers and layers of material and technological systems that protect astronauts from the cold vacuum of space and the pressure of ascent and descent through the atmosphere. But as both NASA and private companies probe further into the solar system, ergonomic design for astronauts–including their suits–will become all the more important.
In 2014, NASA contracted Boeing to build a new spacecraft to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station. The Starliner, which replaces the retired space shuttle, will begin launching in 2018, carrying between four and seven astronauts into space. With the new spacecraft comes a new space suit: it has taken the design team, led by former space shuttle commander Chris Ferguson and Shane Jacobs, design manager at the David Clark Company, which manufactures suits for aerospace crews, about two and a half years to develop the blue suit that astronauts will wear on Starliner missions.
The new suit isn’t just safe–it’s likely the most comfortable ever designed.
That’s due to a variety of factors. Because this space suit is specifically meant for the short space flight between Earth and the International Space Station (a couple of days maximum), it doesn’t have to protect astronauts from the biting vacuum of open space. Instead, it’s designed as a fail-safe in case the spacecraft’s pressure wall malfunctions or there’s some kind of leak in the cabin environment.
In general, a space suit can either be stiff enough to operate at higher pressures (but inhibiting to an astronaut trying to perform tasks) or more comfortable (but less protective). According to Justin Kerr, the spacecraft manager for NASA’s commercial crew program who has worked at the agency for 25 years this month, this is the central tension in space suit design. The ideal suit strikes a balance, says Kerr, who helps set requirements for the safety and design of the agency’s commercial partners, Boeing and SpaceX.
In order to find that balance, the new Starliner suit features lighter, more flexible fabrics–it only weighs 20 pounds, about 10 pounds lighter than its space shuttle equivalent–and zipper systems at the waist to make sitting and standing more comfortable. Previous suits used metal rings at the joint areas in order to ensure a tight seal, but the Starliner suit minimizes the number of these rings wherever possible, since they can cause serious discomfort and even bruising during ascent and return. Instead of using a ring to connect the helmet to the rest of the suit, the Starliner helmet is actually incorporated into the body, with only a zipper for sealing.
