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This collection consists of documentation relating to the Space Suit Testing Android.
An articulated dummy was built for NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center by the Illinois Institute of Technology to support the development of space suits. It used hydraulic and electrical actuators to replicate many of the joint motions of the human body, with realistic forces. Sensors placed throughout the dummy measured forces that a prototype suit might exert on a human being when wearing the suit in a space environment. That enabled suit designers to measure how much force a human would need to move an arm or leg, or turn his or her head, when wearing a suit in space. By using this dummy instead of a human being during the design and testing of a space suit, tests could proceed that might otherwise be painful, tedious, or even dangerous for human participation.
NASM.2018.0038
Illinois Institute of Technology
1963-1970
Jozef Slowik, Gift, 2018, NASM.2018.0038
0.49 Cubic feet (1 container)
National Air and Space Museum Archives
This collection consists of documentation relating to the Space Suit Testing Android, including a scrapbook, photographs, reports and drawings.
No arrangement.
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
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Space Suit Testing Android Collection, NASM.2018.0038, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Astronautics
Space suits
Manned space flight
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographic prints
Scrapbooks
Technical drawings
Technical reports