My new space suit for the first test jump is ready, and so I travelled to Russia on Sunday to try it on before the (jump specific) alterations are made.
The trip was extremely useful as I got my head around the sheer difficulty in moving in a pressuried suit. Skydiving in this thing is going to be extremely challenging. Fortunately I have the Airkix indoor skydiving tunnel to practice in.
The life support system for this suit is being made from scratch and I'm fortunate in having a tremendous team of scientists, a leading Doctor of aviation medicine (with a mass of HALO jump experience), and a leading space suit designer and manufacturer behind me. This group of outstanding professionals are working together to custom build my suit's life support system for my jumps in a near vacuum.
A cold chamber test will be performed to simulate over 2 hours at more than -60 degrees. Following that the whole system will be tested in the skydiving tunnel, followed by a full mission profile test in a hypobaric chamber. Air will be removed in the exact mission time to establish that all systems are operating correctly and reliably.
Following all this I will wear this suit for my 52,000 feet test jump this June in the USA.
A New suit with added safety and structural features is being made for the 120,000 feet jump this July.
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