Building an A7l replica Apollo Moon Suit

I am not sure what happened, But I have been unable to login to update my blog. Until today, and I see I am missing some post.

Oh well, I guess we will move on.

I am making some small progress with my suit, mostly in the form of turning the rest of the connectors. Here are some pictures of the last couple.

Ok, it doesn’t charge anything but it is the electrical connector I just turned. Along with some photos of the connector on Neils suit for comparison.
I have a small piece of circuit board I cut to go inside. As soon as I find some suitable "pins" to add I will mount it in the end.

Sorry for the enormus photos. The editor is not working on this site today. I am sure they are working on it.

Update: I thinned the retaining ring and drilled for the attachment screws.

I have been working with my new lathe, and thought I’d show you some of the progress on my prototype gas connector. (in this case, the multi-water connecotor) So with out further delay… the pictures:

I have wanted to try my hand at turning some LS fittings with a lathe for quite some time now. Well Christmas came a little early this year, I got a small metal late. So as I start my fourth (or is it fifth?) suit, I begin by turning in aluminum, the LS or Gas connectors. I started small with the UDC valve connector and moved on to the Multiple Water connector. Neither is complete yet, but here are some progress photos:

Not much time to write just now, so here are a few more pictures…

Also, soon to come: I am preparing to start a new Apollo suit.

Yep, Thats the suit that Armstrong was in on the first Lunar EVA!

Just this past week I had the honor and privilege of a visit  to the National Air and Space Museum’s Space Suit Storage Facility. I received an invite a couple of months ago after requesting some research materials for a suit I was working on.

Just in case you are not familiar with it, this is where NASM keeps its collection of space suits that are not on display, including most of the actual suits that went to the moon.

Not wanting to keep this to myself, I thought about which of my friends would most enjoy accompanying me on this trip. I quickly realised that person was also the friend who was farthest away.

After many emails, reservations where made, flights booked and the seven hour drive was plotted from my house to Washington D.C.

I wont go in to detail in this post… instead I’ll leave you with some pictures.

Next time some of the more interesting points of the adventure.

It just occured to me that I didn’t post any pictures of the finished suit I was working on. So as I gear up to start a new and improved one, here are some photos to keep us going:

I finished making two UD valves. Here is one of them on a photo of the real thing. Its hard to get scale from these closeups, but assuming Ulli’s hands are roughly the same size as mine, I should be in the ballpark. And hey, as far as I know, nobody else making suits bothers with these details.

Buried under the U.D.C. flap on the right thigh of the A7L, there are three things of interest. On the flap itself there is a small pocket that held a radiation dosimeter. And on the thigh of the suit covered by the flap is a small medical injection port. And last but not least… U.D.V., or  urine disposal valve. This diminutive blue valve was used to drain the small metal container that stored the liquid during E.V.A..

Why did I feel it was important to  include this seldom seen detail? I guess just because it is there.

The pictures show an upper PLSS bracket and the lower roller assembly.