The space shuttle astronauts wear specially designed suits when taking a 'space walk,' or performing extra vehicular activities. Udvar-Hazy Center (part of the Smithsonian) in Virginia.īy NASA, via Wikimedia Commons Discovery is now on display at the Steven F. The Discovery crew, wearing their ACES suits, posed for the above picture in front of the bus that would take them to the launch pad for that shuttle's final flight. Why? If something ever went wrong, and astronauts ended up needing to be plucked out of the sea, bright orange would be a whole lot more visible against the color of the ocean than dark blue. But those were never worn in flight, and the color was quickly change to orange. Interestingly, the very first design of the LES was in a dark blue. During the shutdown of the program following the loss of the Challenger, it was decided that pressurized suits designed for escape were a must, and NASA used LES from the time flights resumed. Up through 1986, crews wore their blue flight suits, with helmets, during launch and re-entry. There's no explanation necessary for that nickname, is there? They were nicknamed 'pumpkin suits' by those who wore them. The ACES (Advanced Crew Escape Suit) was the successor to the orange LES (Launch entry Suit). Challenger and her crew were lost in the sky over Cape Canaveral.īy NASA/Jim Grossmann, via Wikimedia CommonsĬrew of Discovery's last mission, prior to launch It was just after liftoff for mission STS-51L on January 28,1986, that the disaster struck. STS-8 was a mission of firsts: Not only was Mission Specialist Guion Bluford the first African American to go into space, but this was also the first nighttime launch and landing. You don't have to think very hard to imagine that these must be by far the most comfortable of the three uniforms. (They're also worn on the Talon t-38 supersonic trainer jets.) After the first shuttle disaster, the pressurized orange ones were used during the crucial beginning and ending of missions.īlue is still the color we see our space men and women wearing for training and flight deck wear. These would have been the suits they wore on August 30, 1983, during liftoff, and on September 5, when Challenger landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Here, Challenger's crew of STS-8 poses in their Nomex NASA Royal Blue blue flight suits. Crew of STS-8, Challenger, in their blue flight suits
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