Space Suit Mobility Evaluations in Lunar/Mars Gravity Environments

Future human exploration missions to the Moon and Mars as envisioned and being planned by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will involve extensive extravehicular activities (EVA's) on these planetary bodies. It will be necessary for crewmembers to don protective space suit assemblies in order to work and conduct scientific exploration activities in the harsh Lunar and Martian environments. Of prime concern is the requirement for providing the necessary and appropriate mobility features for a pressurized space suit while maintaining efficient levels of effort and relative comfort to the crewmembers during extensive periods of EVA's. A series of KC-135 aircraft reduced gravity flight demonstrations were conducted to evaluate general mobility performance characteristics of the Apollo, Shuttle and Mk III advanced technology model space suits in simulated Lunar (1/6 Earth) and Mars (0.37 Earth) gravity environments.