The Origins and Technology of the Advanced Extra-Vehicular Space Suit, History of Rocketry and Astronautics (AAS History Series, Volume 24) [Paperback]

Gary L. Harris (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0877034826 | ISBN-13: 978-0877034827 | Publication Date: October 15, 2001 | Edition: First

The Origins and Technology of the Advanced Extra-Vehicular Space Suit by Gary L. Harris. This is volume 24 in the AAS History series.

Product Details

• Paperback: 558 pages
• Publisher: Univelt; First edition (October 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0877034826
• ISBN-13: 978-0877034827
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,268,727 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Bible of Space Suits, June 22, 2002

By 

Pablo De Leon (Grand Forks, ND USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Origins and Technology of the Advanced Extra-Vehicular Space Suit, History of Rocketry and Astronautics (AAS History Series, Volume 24) (Hardcover)

Gary Harris wrote the most precise and complete space suits book ever. I thought I knew some about space suits design, but after reading "The Origins and Technology of the Advanced Extra-Vehicular Space Suit" I learned a lot more. This book is so interesting and passionate about the history and development of advanced EVA suits. Full of good photos and explanatory drawings it is a MUST for any serious reader interested in space suits. The book also cover technical issues, so it is useful for the engineer, scientist and student.
I predict this book will become a classic for life support systems and EVA engineers in the years to come.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Origins and Technology of the Advanced Extra-Vehicular S, April 15, 2003

By 

Bonita Roach (Professor Emeritus, Dept. of Aerospace Enigineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012, India) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Origins and Technology of the Advanced Extra-Vehicular Space Suit, History of Rocketry and Astronautics (AAS History Series, Volume 24) (Hardcover)

The author also outlines the intricate procedure followed by NASA in contracting a space suit. NASA doesn't select a space suit; it selects a conractor. It involves a whole range of considerations such as cost, integration of the PLSS and suit, who were the contractor's key personnel, design and test philosophy of the contractor, certfication method, prior experience, who the subcontractors were, scheduling and delivery, and how compatible the suit system is with the spacecraft. In addition, blatant national political factors more than likely affected contractor selection; how much money was NASA already spending in the respective states of the suit competitors, who were the states' representatives and did NASA owe the representative any potical favors?

This volume is Bible of the space suits, covered in over 500 pages in fine print. It addresses almost all issues relating to the EVA suit in one volume. It is perhaps the only source book of space suits. It is rare occassion that an entire volume of the AAS History Series is devoted to a single topiuc, which indeed is an honor to the author. In Indian context, may be the ISRO has no plans to design a space suit, since there are no plans of any manned space mission as of today, but eventually it will have. This book will serve as a reference in design specification and technical details of the various types of EVA suits and their suitability for a particular mission.

Bound in blue hard cover as usual, the book has a illustration of the Litton RX-5A hard suit being demonstrated on a simulated lunar surface.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Book on EVA Suits, January 18, 2006

By 

Jeff Richichi (El Segundo, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Origins and Technology of the Advanced Extra-Vehicular Space Suit, History of Rocketry and Astronautics (AAS History Series, Volume 24) (Hardcover)

Mr. Harris has written an excellent book on the history of the EVA suit. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in the design of EVA suits and how they got to where they are today. Mr. Harris goes into enough detail to allow you to understand how the various suits work (both pros and cons) but not so much as to bore the reader. For those who want more detail, there is an extensive list of resources in the book. In short, if you want to learn about EVA suits, buy this book and read it.