This is the new space suit that astronauts will use on the Moon (and how they were the first to be used)

On February 20, 1962, John Glenn, the third American to fly into space after Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom, became the first human being to orbit the Earth, a task he performed wearing the spacesuit pictured above. The pressurized suit was designed by the BF Goodrich company for the United States Navy and selected in 1959 by NASA for the Mercury project. National Geographic recalls that a year earlier, Gus Grissom, one of the seven chosen for the Mercury program, suffered an accident when the Liberty Bell 7 suborbital capsule plunged into the Atlantic back to Earth. The ship filled with water and sank. Glenn was rescued by helicopter, but spacesuits thereafter included a survival kit with floats.

National Geographic details that the G3-C spacesuit was made for Virgil Grissom on the first manned mission of Gemini.3, on March 23, 1965. The suit consisted of five main pieces: main torso, helmet, boots, gloves, and fastening closure at the neck.

Costume G4-C It was made exclusively for astronaut Michael Collins, reports National Geographic. It was an EVA “suit for extravehicular activity”, made up of five assembled parts: torso, helmet, boots, gloves, and an attachment system at neck level. The first suit used outside a ship was attached to it and its oxygen by a cable called an umbilical cord. It also featured a Ventilation Control Module (MCV) with booster oxygen. The equipment allowed freedom of movement and carried biomedical data transmission and communication equipment.

Astronaut Eugene A. Cernan, Apollo 10 lunar module pilot, participated in the mission where the lunar module was placed in close orbit with the satellite for the first time. The other two crew members were astronauts Thomas P. Stafford, commander, and John W. Young, command module pilot, according to National Geographic.

Neil Armstrong, Commander of the Apollo 11 mission, he wore this suit when he stepped on the Moon for the first time in history. National Geographic explains that lunar spacesuits were designed to provide a life-support environment for the astronaut during periods of extravehicular activity or during non-pressurized spacecraft operation. They allowed maximum mobility and were designed to be worn in relative comfort for up to 115 hours. It allowed astronauts to separate completely from the ship thanks to the so-called life support system (SSV). It contained emergency oxygen and could be used for 14 days in a non-pressurized mode.

It was the last prototype with which astronauts set foot on the Moon. It was devised for Eugene A. Cernan, commander of the Apollo 17 mission, in December 1972. The model was made up of some 26 layers of materials specifically designed to protect the astronaut from the extreme temperatures they had to endure on the lunar surface. The weight of the complete equipment on Earth, including the life support system, exceeded 80 kilos, National Geographic indicates.