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Last man sitting open beta6/7/2023 ![]() Today, that would be in excess of $20,000/ yard-a very expensive fabric. In 1968 dollars the fabric cost $2,500/yard. At the time this was the best penetration protection that money could buy. Chromel-R is a high chromium content stainless steel fabric that is woven from steel threads. The outermost layer against penetration and abrasion protection took the form of that silvery-gray covering that you see on the tops of the lunar overshoes. This is a time-honored method of protecting astronauts and satellites that is still used today. Any fast-traveling particle that penetrated the outer layer of the boots would break apart, lose momentum, and come to rest among the 21 layers of the interior. These lightweight layers not only added to the thermal protection of the astronauts, but they also formed a penetration protection layer for the boots. Between the inner and outer layers of Beta Cloth were alternating layers of aluminized Mylar (think of Mylar balloons), Non-woven Dacron, and Beta Marquisette Kapton (a laminated film). The innersoles were lined on the inside with the Teflon-coat Beta Cloth to create a fire-resistant encapsulation of the feet. The lunar overshoes had insoles made from felt consisting of a combination of fiberglass and Teflon, similar to the outer layer of the spacesuit. The silicone soles were not the only response to concerns about conducting lunar heat inside the spacesuit. Gene Cernan walks on the Moon during the Apollo 17 mission. Wide soles with lots of traction could address either variable. At the time, we did not know if the lunar dust on the surface of the Moon would be thin and slippery or deep and sticky. The horizontal ridges along the bottoms of the silicone soles were made to match two very different possibilities about the behavior of the lunar surface. This silicone had a much higher melting temperature than the lunar surface. ![]() Designers began their plans with blue silicone rubber that would make up the iconic soles of the boots. They would be in contact with an unknown surface that would experience temperatures up to 300 ☏ they had to be designed so that the astronauts could put them on and remove them with relative ease while wearing their spacesuits. These lunar overshoes were the only part of the suit that would be in constant contact with the lunar surface. ![]() As a result, engineers and technicians had to make many assumptions and plan for extra safeguards when designing lunar galoshes for Moonwalks. At the time of the Apollo spacesuit design, no one had a lunar sample to determine how human-made materials would interact with the Moon’s surface. The simple answer is that the boots that are integrated into the spacesuit provided adequate support and flexibility for launch and entry inside the spacecraft, but they were not adequate to provide traction and protection on the surface of another world. (Smithsonian Institution)įrequently, the Museum receives questions as to why the iconic lunar footprints that we see in NASA photographs do not match the soles of the spacesuit boots that one sees on Neil Armstrong’s Apollo 11 spacesuit. Gene Cernan’s Apollo 17 lunar overshoes on display in the Destination Moon exhibition at the Museum in DC.
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