“Prototypes of the space suit and life support back pack being developed for the Apollo moon-landing program have been delivered by the Hamilton Standard division of United Aircraft’s Corporation to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas. Rubber bellows at the joints of arms, legs, and torso provide greatly increased mobility when the suit is pressurized. The helmet has an airlock feeding device which can be used for eating and drinking in the weightless conditions of space as well as on the moon. The pack supplies oxygen and ventilation, controls temperature and humidity, and removes respiratory and body contaminants inside the suit. It is designed for four-hour expeditions on the moon or in space. Hamilton Standard is prime contractor in charge of the space suit-life support system’s development. International Latex Corporation, subcontractor, is developing the pressure suit.”
An excellent caption. 👍
Although not visible in this photograph, the referenced "back pack" can be seen in Mr. Granston's linked image below.
Based on the photograph on page 21 of this linked document, although misidentified in the caption, the suit would appear to be the AX2H-022. An interesting & informative excerpt follows:
“AX1H - The First New Design of The Apollo Program
The AX1H design was developed by using an already existing SPD-143 suit and incrementally replacing and comparatively testing the various mobility elements one at a time to evaluate the improvements (ref. Fig. 2.12). Upon completion, this incrementally retrofitted suit was delivered to Hamilton Standard for evaluation and then retained for manned systems testing. Once the retrofit prototype was accepted, ILC manufactured the AX1H-021 suit.
The AX1H-021 term was a NASA-assigned designation. It meant A = Apollo program, X = Experimental prototype (dash or nothing meant production unit), 1H = first design of the Hamilton-to-NASA contract, 021 = 21st suit under that HS Apollo contract. The AX1H configuration had significance as it:
- Incorporated a two-cable assisted shoulder joint to provide flexion-extension and adduction-abduction.
- Featured ILC designed and manufactured torso assembly with aluminized coating to the boots, torso and gloves to permit thermal evaluation. Ability to bend (as in sitting) was provided by a torso compression strap that had cables attaching to suit side helmet disconnect. Non-lacing, slip in (leather) boots were added for improved don/doff. The sizing adjustment loop-tape on the back was increased to 3 sets.
- Used a new ILC-designed and manufactured helmet with novel features that included the acrylic pressure visor which retracted inside the helmet shell when not in use for protection. In addition, it had the ability to drop down and move out to meet the helmet shell when deployed so that the pressure load helped seal the visor against the shell. That sealing against the shell also offered greater safety than other helmets of the time because other helmets depended on the dropping and raising mechanism to hold back the pressure. The failure of one item in such mechanisms could result in loss of life.
The evaluations of the AX1H-021 suit illustrated the difficulties with early lack of established requirements within the Apollo Program. The incremental development approach of the AX1H systems should have assured unquestionable agreement that the AX1H design was a significant advancement in mobility. Hamilton Standard subsequently performed comparative testing of the AX1H (or the retrofit AX1H prototype) against a SPD-143 Training Suit and judged that there was no improvement in range or reduction in effort with the AX1H. In the NASA testing that followed, NASA objected to an unnatural stance but had no issues with mobility. Part of the disparity in customer evaluation was that there were no quantitative Apollo mobility requirements until 1964. The findings from suit evaluators were subjective. However, the effort required to overcome the friction of the cables sliding (or not sliding) through their stainless-steel conduits was an underlying mobility factor. Another factor was that the base design had very good mobility (for the time) in specific directions. Skilled suit users used combinations of shoulder and elbow movements to reach various points. Naturally, ILC users were the most skilled in that art because of their experience. The AX1H shoulder width was beyond the specified limit of 23” maximum. During development, it was expected that the specification would be relaxed. However, the discovery of a design error precluded allowing greater volume and a revision of the requirement. An interesting feature of the AX1H-021 helmet was its accompanying opaque sun visor prototype. The “visor” portion was made of spun aluminum that was trimmed into the proposed visor’s dimensions. This permitted attachment and dimensional evaluations via a technology that was readily available within ILC’s Dover facility.
AX2H Suits (Sept. 1963 & Oct. 1963)
There were two AX2H suits made (A-2H-022 and A-2H-023). The neck-ring restraint cable attachments and the torso compression strap were revised into separate assemblies as part of the suit stance change from the A-1H-021 evaluation. Each assembly attached directly to the torso. The outer fabrics of the A-2H-022 (ref. Fig. 2.14) were aluminized to support thermal testing. The A-2H-023 was covered with more durable white nylon for training. The AX2H helmet embodied a minor change from the AX1H design in that the pressure visor latch was changed from stainless steel to anodized aluminum to reduce weight.
www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/ILC-SpaceSuits-RevA.pdf
Credit: ALSJ website
A very interesting & enlightening presentation as well:
slidetodoc.com/u-s-spacesuit-knowledge-capture-sessions-a...
Credit: “SlideToDoc” website
Finally, based on the other linked photos below, this might also be Benjamin Cole, Hamilton Standard engineer.
