Gemini Space Suit

The Gemini suit was engineered so that the crew of the two-man Gemini capsule would have more mobility. The suit had a combination of a link-net restraint and a gas-tight, man-shaped pressure bladder that made the whole suit flexible when pressurized. The pressure bladder was made of Neoprene-coated nylon and covered by loadbearing link-net from Darcron and Teflon cords. Slightly smaller than the pressure bladder, the net layer reduced stiffness when pressurized and served as a a sort of structural shell. Improved arm and shoulder mobility resulted from the multilayer design of the Gemini suit. The B.F. Goodrich company was selected to manufacture the suits for the Gemini missions in 1962 at a cost of $209,701 to develop and test the suits. The suits had to be comfortable so that the astronauts would not get uncomfortable during the long Gemini missions. NASA later rejected the suit, the G2G, in 1963 for a David Clark Company design. The new design, the G1C, used Goodrich gloves, helmets, and hardware. A newly developed David Clark suit, the G2C, was tested in 1963. Problems occurred and David Clark took the suit back to modify. The modified suit, the G3C, was the first used in the Gemini program and worn by Gus Grissom and John Young on Gemini 3. For the next four flights, David Clark G4C suits, the kind worn by Ed White on America's first space walk, were used. The gloves were developed for better wrist and finger mobility. Frank Borman and Jim Lovell wore G5C lightweight suits that could be removed during the flight. The G4C EVA suit was first worn by Gene Cernan and was equipped with Chromel-R woven metal cloth for leg protection from the gasses that the AMU (Astronaut Maneuvering Unit) would cause (the AMU was not successfully used until the Skylab program). Gemini 9 suit gloves and boots had Velcro on them to help the astronaut keep an upright position but were of little use.

The text and photographs on this page are either public domain or were originally published on the Internet at http://www.farhills.org/s/lees/ which no longer exists.

See more history of the Gemini Space Suit...

Back to Articles...