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 Summary

This collection consists of documentation relating to the Space Suit Testing Android.

 Biographical / Historical

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.

 Identifier

NASM.2018.0038

Creator

Illinois Institute of Technology

Date

1963-1970

Provenance

Jozef Slowik, Gift, 2018, NASM.2018.0038

Extent

0.49 Cubic feet (1 container)

Archival Repository

National Air and Space Museum Archives

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of documentation relating to the Space Suit Testing Android, including a scrapbook, photographs, reports and drawings.

Arrangement note

No arrangement.

Rights

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.

Restrictions

No restrictions on access

Citation

Space Suit Testing Android Collection, NASM.2018.0038, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

Topics

Astronautics

Space suits

Manned space flight

Type

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Photographic prints

Scrapbooks

Technical drawings

Technical reports