Working on the Moon
by Dwayne A. Day
Monday, August 22, 2005

A pretty interesting article. Here is an excerpt from the middle.

Building a better suit

The astronauts felt that when it came to designing EVA suits, simplicity and reliability were the most important factors. They believed that the key to suit flexibility is low operating pressure and a pure O2 atmosphere. They thought that variable pressure suits were an interesting concept that held potential, but were unacceptable if they were not simple and reliable. There was no consensus on the suit mass. Some felt that the Apollo suit’s mass was too high, whereas others thought that it was acceptable.

The Apollo spacesuits were essentially disposable—after the last EVA they were not reused and in fact both the astronauts and suit engineers were shocked at the amount of erosion the suits had suffered in their moving parts due to abrasive lunar dust. The moonwalkers stressed that maintenance simplicity was a key design provision for long duration missions. They also were somewhat mixed about more advanced suit designs such as hard suits, rear-entry suits, and docking a suit to the outside of a hab. The rear-entry design, where the life support backpack of the suit swung open to allow the astronaut to slide into the suit, made it easy for a single astronaut to don his suit unassisted. This is the approach that the Russians take with their Orlan spacesuit, and it was also the approach chosen by the Soviets for their Krechet lunar EVA suit. But many of the moonwalkers were concerned that the large seal would be damaged by lunar dust.

Rest at: http://www.thespacereview.com/article/436/1