[NASA APOLLO SPACESUIT MOBILITY TESTING]

Creator: Natl Aeronautics And Space Administration

Description:

To test designs of new Apollo spacesuits, as well as affiliated equipment, a large neutral buoyancy water tank was employed. This film shows SCUBA divers in the tank wearing Aqua Lungs, assisting a test subject in a spacesuit, who is attempting to perform simulated assembly tasks. It's unclear exactly what the precise nature of the task was, but it appears that a key part of the test was to see if the subject's feet could be stabilized in a piece of hardware (visible at 7:48).

The suit shown is probably either a Mercury Program / Navy Mark IV model or an SPD-143 model. (The suit's peculiar look, with joints and connectors forming an exoskeleton, was to allow an assessment of these parts.)

Complete Record: To test designs of new Apollo spacesuits, as well as affiliated equipment, a large neutral buoyancy water tank was employed. This film shows SCUBA divers in the tank wearing Aqua Lungs, assisting a test subject in a spacesuit, who is attempting to perform simulated assembly tasks. It's unclear exactly what the precise nature of the task was, but it appears that a key part of the test was to see if the subject's feet could be stabilized in a piece of hardware (visible at 7:48). The suit shown is probably either a Mercury Program / Navy Mark IV model or an SPD-143 model. (The suit's peculiar look, with joints and connectors forming an exoskeleton, was to allow an assessment of these parts.)