Space suits are required by astronauts because body fluids would boil under the natural pressure in space.
Even pilots of high-flying aircraft need pressurized suits, and NASA developed space suits for the Mercury astronauts from those originally worn by U.S. Navy jet pilots.
Space suits have come a long way since Soviet cosmonauts flew in nothing but their underwear.
Constantly updated designs and technology allow astronauts to explore space, conduct experiments, and record data without being tied to the base ship.
NASA’s technical term for space suit is extravehicular mobility unit (EMU).
The EMU, like the Apollo/Skylab A7L spacesuit, was a result of years of research and development.
The Extravehicular Mobility Unit is a two-piece semi-rigid suit and is an independent anthropomorphic system that provides environmental protection, mobility, life support, and communications for an astronaut to perform extra-vehicular activity, also known as EVA, in space.
