Posts: 1610
From: New York
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 03-06-2005 08:26 AM               

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The spacesuits used by the Gemini 7 crew were drastically different from previously worn Gemini suits.

Besides the EVA suits that had "extra layers" for protection, were all other suits worn (from GT-3 through GT-12) basically the same, or were modifications made as the program progressed?

Also, was the Apollo 1 suit similar to the ones worn for Gemini?

Posts: 1051
From: Messina, Sicilia, Italia
Registered: Jun 2004

posted 03-06-2005 08:58 AM               

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The Gemini suit for EVA was a "work in progress". Ed White's spacesuit was not the same of the Buzz Aldrin's suit.

The intravehicular Gemini suit was basically the same from GT-3 until GT-12.

Apollo block 1 spacesuit was a intravehicular Gemini with small alterations (cover layer, shell on the helmet, pockets on the legs, flag on right shoulder).

Posts: 1758
From: Killingly, CT
Registered: Mar 2002

posted 03-06-2005 01:13 PM               

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My cousin was a suit tech for David Clark Co. for the entire Gemini program and Apollo 1 crew.

He could answer all these suit questions with great detail, but he unfortunately passed away unexpectedly a year ago.

Every time I see a suit thread like this, I think of all the stories he had to tell of all the astronauts involved. What a loss.

Posts: 3324
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010

posted 06-09-2013 05:12 PM            

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A description of the Gemini 4 EVA suit and the modifications made to the EVA suits for Gemini 8 thru 12 can be found in Section 4.1 of this NASA SP-149 Summary of Gemini Extravehicular Activity document.

NASA photo S67-297 shows the upper portion of the Gemini 4 extravehicular coverlayer.

The extravehicular coverlayer was made in two parts - a main part which covered the torso and a removable jacket (fig. 4.1-4) which covered the arms and shoulders. The use of the removable jacket permitted the pilot to free himself of the added encumbrance of the coverlayer in the area of the arms and shoulders after the EVA was completed.

Posts: 1051
From: Messina, Sicilia, Italia
Registered: Jun 2004

Posts: 3324
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010

Posts: 1966
From: Atlanta, GA
Registered: Feb 2007

posted 06-10-2013 05:01 PM               

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That's a large American flag on McDivitt's shoulder. Anyone know the dimensions?

I believe this was the first use of flags on suits. The Technicolor logo shirt in the foreground is also interesting.

Posts: 1251
From:
Registered: Apr 2008

posted 06-11-2013 09:02 AM               

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quote:

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Originally posted by garymilgrom:
That's a large American flag on McDivitt's shoulder. Anyone know the dimensions? I believe this was the first use of flags on suits.

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..."The name we selected for the vehicle was American Eagle. Unfortunately, we were unable to use this, and we were known as Gemini IV.

Ed and I used the American flag on our shoulders as our patch. This was the first time the American flag had been worn on a pressure suit and it has continued to be used there ever since. The original flags we had sewn on we purchased ourselves. Later on of course, NASA made this an integral part of the pressure suit."

Astronaut Jim McDivitt quoted in the book All We Did was Fly to the Moon.

The flags were approximately 4x6" and made of nylon. I've compared photos of the suit flags and they appear identical to the 24 GT-4 flown American flags that McDivitt sold several months back. In all likelihood they came from the same batch of flags that the crew purchased before the flight.