EVA Suit

Ken Lindsay demonstrates the old suit and new helmet (2007)

Stefan De Young demonstrates the space activity suit's "corset." (2007)

EVA suits are items of clothing worn by astronauts in hazardous environments, most notably the hard vacuum of outer space. There are many different varieties of EVA suits, and Spacesim possesses two different types of suit: full-body suits (similar to the Advanced Crew Escape Suit) and skin-tight space activity suits.

Full-body suits

Spacesim originally conducted missions with only three of these suits, leaving those astronauts without suits to cower in safe modules during emergencies. These suits have several layers of fabric, which insulate and protect the astronaut, and Velcro cuffs that help keep air in. Each suit is associated with a plastic bubble helmet. These suits, in particular one made with several layers of plastic, are know to get very hot very fast when an astronuate is wearing it. As a result, the plastic suit have been affectionally named the "hot suit" during mission Red Dawn; recent efforts to reform the EVA suit system is also a response to this problem.

Space Activity Suits

In response to criticisms that the older suits were too restrictive, hot, and generally showing their age, Spacesim developed four space activity suits. These suits consist of a central 'corset' and elasticized fabric for the limbs, which apply mechanical pressure to the skin to prevent bruising in a vacuum. They are designed to be worn under a flight suit. These suits offer less protection against other hazards, but are much easier to wear and work in. The helmets for these suits are also better-equipped than the old ones, and include a fan to prevent fogging; this fan is much appreciated by the astronauts, for fogging often rendered the old helmets unusable after as few as ten minutes.

Current practice is to restrict these suits to use inside the Habitat except in emergency circumstances.