Collins Aerospace, a private company that was hired to develop spacesuits for use outside the International Space Station (ISS), has successfully tested its suit on a commercial microgravity flight. This milestone allows engineers to move forward toward the critical design review. NASA outsourced the design of new spacesuits after spending 15 years trying to develop new suits on its own. Collins Aerospace’s new suit is lighter, has less volume, and can be easily modified to fit a wider range of body types, making it more adaptable to changing missions than the older suits.
During the test, the plane executed maneuvers to induce weightlessness and allowed someone wearing a prototype to move around in it under those conditions. This included navigating through doors in zero-G. Collins Aerospace’s next test will involve putting the suit in a vacuum chamber to see how it performs in the vacuum of space. Additionally, a test under 40 feet of water at NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Lab in Texas will simulate microgravity for spacewalk training. These tests are crucial to ensuring the suit’s functionality and safety in various space environments.
In summary, Collins Aerospace’s successful test of its spacesuit on a commercial microgravity flight represents a pivotal moment in the development process, bringing engineers closer to the critical design review stage. The new suit is lighter, has less volume, and is more adaptable to a wider range of body types, addressing limitations of older spacesuit designs. The next steps involve testing the suit in a vacuum chamber and under 40 feet of water to further ensure its functionality and safety in space environments.
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