Introducing future astronaut costumes

NASA has just announced a contract with Oceaneering International Inc. belongs to Houston to design, develop and produce a costume system for new astronauts. This outfit will protect astronauts on the Constellation Program to ISS and onto the lunar surface before 2020.

Subcontractors of Oceaneering are Air-Lock Inc. , Milford, Connecticut, David Clark Co. of Worcester, Mass., Cimarron Software Services Inc. , Houston, Harris Corporation of Palm Bay, Florida, Honeywell International Inc. of Glendale, Arizona, Paragon Space Development Corp. of Tucson, Arizona, and United Space Alliance of Houston.

According to Jeff Hanley, Constellation program director at Johnson Space Center, Houston, 'This outfit contract completes the hardware requirements for the Constellation Program's human flight in 2015'. The contract with the ship carrying the Orion crew and the Ares I missile was also established in the last 2 years.

The costume contract has the cost of adding prizes including basic activities from June 2008 to September 2014, worth $ 183.8 million. Throughout the process, Oceaneering and its subcontractors will conduct design, development, testing and evaluation in the production, assembly and first flight of the necessary costume components for astronauts. on the Orion expedition vehicle. The basic contract will also include a preliminary set of costume designs needed for moon exploration.

The Constellation Program task requires two astronaut costume systems to meet the requirements of the Orion mission to the space station and to the moon.Setting 1 will support dynamics such as launching and landing operations, etc. (Photo: NASA)

According to Glenn Lutz, project manager for astronaut costume system in Johnson, 'I am excited about the new partnership between NASA and Oceaneering. Now is the time for our costume team to begin their journey together, which will eventually put new shoes on the moon. '

Costumes and support systems will be needed for at most 4 astronauts on the moon journey and about 6 cosmonauts. For short trips to the moon, costume design will support a moon walk for about a week. The system is also designed to support a significant number of moon walks in a 6-month journey to the bases on the moon. In addition, the costume and support system will provide protection against sudden surges in the launch and landing environment, such as spacecraft cavity leaks.

Two contract options may also be announced in the future as part of this contract. Option 1 includes the completion of design, development, testing and evaluation of costume components for the moon surface. Option 1 will start in October 2010 and operate until September 2016, according to the bonus cost model with a total value of $ 302.1 million.

Option 2 provides Orion with the production, processing and maintenance of apparel in a contract worth up to $ 260 million depending on hardware requirements. Option 2 will begin at the end of the basic operation process in October 2014, and will continue until September 2016.