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Spacesuit (EMU) Cross Section

Mission: N/A (educational sample)  
Comment: The LCVG subassembly is affectionately known as the spaghetti suit, alluding to its interwoven cooling tubes.

This cross section example of the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) spacesuit reveals the 11 layers of material that protects the astronaut wearer from the vacuum of space. These 11 plies represent three distinct subassemblies: the Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garment (LCVG) comprising the first two layers, a gas retention and structural integrity subassembly that accounts for the third and fourth plies, and the Thermal Micrometeroid Garment (TMG), which is the bulkiest of the three at seven layers. The individual 11 layers are as follows (as viewed from the astronaut's body outward): nylon tricot liner, nylon spandex restraint, nylon plain weave fabric coated with an elastomer, Dacron fabric, neoprene-coated nylon ripstop fabric, five layers of scrim reinforced aluminized Mylar and Ortho-Fabric shell. As one garment, they represent the EVA spacesuit used on every Space Shuttle mission since STS-6 and all U.S.-side EVA activities from the International Space Station (ISS).

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