Hundreds of kids lined up at Rec Park in Binghamton on Saturday, March 31 before storming the lawn seeking more and more Easter eggs. Jeff Miller / Correspondent video



QUESTION: What are astronaut suits made of?

ANSWER: This question is of interest to me because I was fortunate to spend two summers, 1969 and 1970, at the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center (now the Johnson Space Center) in Houston, Texas. 1969 was particularly exciting because this was the summer when the Apollo 11 spacecraft carried astronauts Michael Collins, Buzz Aldrin, and Neil Armstrong to the Moon.

The Environmental Physiology Laboratory where I worked tested the astronauts and monitored their health and well-being during Apollo flights. The Apollo 11 space suits were designed to be used in the Lunar Module and also to walk on the moon. Each suit was custom-made for the two astronauts who walked on the Moon (Armstrong and Aldrin); in fact, all of the space suits were individually tailored at this time.

I remember holding a copy of the innermost suit, called the LCG (liquid-cooled garment), which was like a set of nylon long underwear with a lot of plastic tubing sewed throughout. Cool water could be circulated through the tubes to cool the body when astronauts were working and generating body heat.

The outer suit, called the model A7L, was designed to protect the astronaut from damage (micrometeorite dust) and the heat and cold of the moon’s surface, and to provide oxygen and to get rid of excess carbon dioxide. There were very complex devices in the space suit to carry out these functions. The outer space suit was very durable and designed to withstand the vacuum of outer space and the moon. It had as many as 20 layers to protect against heat, cold, pressure, and scrapes. Modern materials such as aluminum, Mylar, Dacron, nylon, and Teflon constituted the many layers. In addition, the space suits had gloves with wrist joints, boots, and helmets with gold-plated visors to reflect the sun’s rays.

During the earlier Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo Missions, space suits were simpler. The Mercury Mission space suits were made to be used only inside the spacecraft, while the Gemini Mission space suits were designed for spacewalks outside the spacecraft. These suits were connected to the spacecraft with a hose to provide oxygen (like deep-sea divers). As each of the space missions became more complicated, space suits were modified and redesigned to be more efficient and to deal with new environments. For example, during the Space Shuttle flights, space suits were tailored with exchangeable arm, leg, and body components to fit different size astronauts.

There are three types of space suits: inside spacecraft suits (IVA = intravehicular activity), outside space suits (EVA = extravehicular activity), and suits that can be used both inside and outside the spacecraft (IEVA = intra/extravehicular activity). Today, there are many different kinds of space suits and new designs, some of which may be used during this century for a spaceflight to Mars.


Name: Drew Stanton

Grade: 5

School: Tioughnioga Riverside Academy, Whitney Point Central School District

Teacher: Miss Babcock

Hobbies: Drawing, basketball, football, music

Career interests: Musician


Answered by: Michael Little

Title: Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, Binghamton University

Research area: Human adaptation to the environment

Interests/hobbies: Swimming, choral singing, antique toys, books

Ask a Scientist runs every other Monday. Questions are answered by science experts at Binghamton University. Teachers in the Greater Binghamton area who wish to participate in the program are asked to write to Ask a Scientist, c/o Binghamton University, Office of Communications and Marketing, PO Box 6000, Binghamton, N.Y. 13902-6000, or e-mail For more information, visit




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