Washington, July 17: They have travelled further than any fashion item on Earth, surviving a hostile environment and extremes of heat and cold on a world far from ours. But now age is catching up with Nasa spacesuits.
“There is a lot of decay,” admitted Cathy Lewis, curator at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, who is charge of looking after a dozen spacesuits worn on the Apollo missions.
She even has under her care the suit worn by Neil Armstrong when he stepped out on the lunar surface on July 20, 1969, and made history as the first man to walk on the moon.
But she agrees the passage of time has not been kind to these historic artefacts. “They don’t do well because of the light and the humidity,” she said.
“They are made out of 21 layers of synthetic material. They are brittle,” she said, adding that over time an ongoing chemical reaction between the different materials in the suits still encrusted with moon dust was taking its toll.
Complex mixture
Displayed behind glass at the museum since the late 1960s, the spacesuits have been withdrawn to be restored or at least to halt the ravages of decay as the United States prepares to mark the 40th anniversary of the moon landings.
“Most of them are in restoration, but we can put them on display in a controlled environment for a short period of time,” said museum curator Allan Needell.
The custom-fit suits are made of a complex mixture of Teflon, polyvinylchloride and latex laced with tubing all aimed at allowing the astronauts to carry out their missions in the harshest of all environments.
Today’s suits have inter-lockable pieces so that none of the astronaut’s skin is exposed to space, while multiple layers help protect the astronaut from extreme cold and heat. It is waterproof, fire-resistant and also made of the same material as bullet-proof vests.
Lewis said the spacesuits made for the 12 moonwalkers were “made for very hard conditions, but for a very short period of time.”
She said the gloves were coming apart, the metallic layers were rusting and the rubber joints were deteriorating.
The suits only spent a few days on the moon, where temperatures oscillate between minus 150°C and 120°C.
—Agencies