Video: NASA's next-gen space suit back on track
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted April 28th 2009 6:56PM
posted April 28th 2009 6:56PM
It seems like only yesterday that we were hearing about Paragon's designs for greenhouses on the lunar surface (but that's because it was yesterday). Now we've been hepped to the fact that the company is teaming up with Oceaneering International to overhaul NASA's space suit. The last that we heard, the project had been scuttled altogether, but you know how quickly things can be unscuttled when the White House changes hands. The Constellation Space Suit System (CSSS) will be designed in a modular fashion, so that the same suit can be used by the astronaut for all the different aspects of his / her mission. You can look forward to the stylish debut of these bad boys on the new Orion spaceship, currently planned to launch in 2015. According to Engineering TV, this will be the first major space suit redesign in over forty years. Can we make a suggestion? Please don't do anything to that iconic NASA logo -- some things never go out of style. Video after the break.
LOL - it has a pee hole.
No, you have a pee hole. It has a tube that goes in your pee hole.
Now get that thing away from me.
I won't be happy till we have VTOL fighters on the moonbase.
Can I please suggest that you DON'T have embedded video auto start when the page loads. At work it makes it pretty clear to folks nearby that I'm looking at something that is not work related. At home it annoys my wife who is listening to music.
And in here your whining annoys us all.
http://noscript.net/
You could just keep your work pc's sound muted.
Or you could, y'know, actually do work while at your job!
No he's right. That was super annoying, and I'm just chilling at home. But this is the first time for Engadget so it's all good.
For me it is always better to choose when to start the vid...
Firefox; Flashblock. Boom! Problem solved!
Just wait until china come out with the KIRF version...
I wonder if it will have a wearable PC .. maybe with a touchscreen UI on the forearm sleeve and plus of course a manually/electronically switchable heads up display on part of the visor that makes the image/UI fappear to float few feet away.
And yet a dead pixel would be oh so much more annoying.
Id like to see a modernized version of the 'worm' logo.
And I used to complain my backpack made me look like a dork in middle school......
I know right? That orange one reminds me of something on Life Aquatic.
In space, no one can see you look like a dork.
I knew that suit looked familiar! Its a rip off from Major Matt Mason, iconic astronaut toy of the 1960s!
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://wallofpaul.com/files/Major%2520Matt%2520(usable).jpg&imgrefurl=http://wallofpaul.com/im-a-rocket-man&usg=__8z5Sw0ZRcsdyV2QjqDIfvpSkAZE=&h=470&w=233&sz=32&hl=en&start=4&sig2=Kzy6AtRzvfhQXQ2I6bsCDg&um=1&tbnid=7qrvy68gavrFuM:&tbnh=129&tbnw=64&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmajor%2Bmatt%2Bmason%2Btoy%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1&ei=3pz3SaSFLuGMtgfUo43CDw
I love that the suit will be designed by a relative up-start. The makers of the Apollo space suits were newbies themselves. They delivered a legendary product.
One aside, I think the statement concerning the White House changing hands seems a bit snarky, and belies the reality of the contract disputes. (Not to mention overlooking the fact that this White House has badly ignored NASA's need for a permanent administrator.)
Oceaneering is anything but an upstart. They have been designing life-support equipment for a long time, just not for the space industry.
Very good point, and well taken. I should be more clear. Oceaneering does have an extensive background, true, but this is the first time that they have undertaken the task of manufacturing a suit for this environment and with these requirements. Your quite correct though, and thank for bringing it up.
Recession Antidote; just maybe?
Commander? Is that you? Odd's blood, Keen! Where've you been!? The Vorticons are back and we NEED YOUR POGO STICK!
lol yeaaaa i want a SPaSH SHOOT!
Nobody is in charge over at NASA. They haven't gotten around to replacing Michael Griffin yet.
I'm guessing that decisions on just about anything aren't going to be made until that happens.
How fuel efficient is the Space shuttle?
We spend soooooooooo much money for someone to go to the moon, walk around and come back...NASA says "Man F tha recession we goin 2 tha moooon bitchezz"
Where do they put their towel?
If you want to survive out here, you've got to know where your towel is.
I wouldn't want to go anywhere without my wonderful towel.
:)
Good luck oceaneering.
That totally looks like Major Matt Mason.
Why do we spend so much money going into space when we don't even know what is in our oceans?
_______http://politicalpete.com
Fine but i will wait for the space marines suit.
DISCLAIMER: These pictures/videos are not necessarily representative of the actual design of the suits. These pictures have been around for awhile, and while they do a good job of roughly showing the architecture, it is not accurate to say that these are pictures of the new suits. They are not.