watch more of ourting.announce: tour of the air and space museum on american artifacts sunday at 6:00 at 10:00 eastern. this is "american history tv," only on c-span3. >> each week, "american history america" brings you archival parents -- films films that provide context for today's public affairs issues. in 1976, president gerald ford spoke at the opening of the air andian's national space museum in washington dc. leading up to the anniversary, "reel america" is showcasing science films. up next, science reporter: suited for space. half hour nasa tv program, one of 13 produced with m.i.t. and w dbh boston.

this episode traces the evolution of spacesuits beginning with the mercury program and looking at a live support system prototype needed for the apollo moon missions. >> in less than five years, an astronaut will be stepping out on the moon to conduct man's first real exploration of our oldest satellite. it will have been a long voyage , carrying him far from his native land by effort into a strange and airless world. to survive he must carry with , him a bit of his familiar environment. buyer engineers are designing a spacesuit that will support astronauts on a round-trip lunar mission. that is coming up today on "science reporters." ♪

>> hello, i am john fitch, m.i.t. science reporters feeding to you from the moon, or a reasonable facsimile thereof. it is actually a lunar landscape mockup of the lunar excursion module from the houston command center where the national aeronautics and space administration are testing and evaluating the performance of the apollo spacesuit. manally, encapsulating a into a suit that protects him from his environment at the same time gives him adequate life support is no very novel idea. deep-sea divers have depended on such a solution in their defense into hostile depths for decades. as it applied to going up and instead of going down, bioengineering got a much later start.

it wasn't until world war ii that airplanes begin nudging up to 30,000 feet that man was coaching beyond his natural reach. breathing oxygen systems had to be devised. many years later, men flying high-speed military planes at ever higher altitudes required anti-force and decompression systems. but today, we move into the space age, these two problems seem relatively tame when it comes to what is required or lunar expirations. to find out about the systems that will be used to protect men on the moon, we talked to , assistant chief of the development branch here at the spacecraft center. >> john, before i show you the apollo system, i think you want to see some of our earlier models. here we have the al sheppard hoot dass -- suit.

there are not any movable joints in this, no hide joints or steel rims or anything else. all is achieved by a very color -- clever tailoring. you can see artificial breaks that have been sewn into the suit. there is a restraining garment have mobility.to notice in the elbow we have no special joint. simply through the use of this unidirectional restraint, we can get some ella -- mobility in the elbow. he is almost rigid. this green bottle is interesting. this is the way we originally field the helmet visor. this moves up and down, and by inflating it seals around the periphery of it, which is quite an excellent ceiling of the

entire suit -- sealing of the entire suit. john fitch: is this a big step forward? based on a developmental item that came from the navy. stands, is a it mark for needy suit used in high-altitude aircraft with some modifications. we have added a different kind of restraint in here. i generally speaking, it does not differ significantly -- but generally speaking, it does not differ significantly from the other model. at the moment, he is being ventilated by a ventilating gear that keeps him cool until you would be attached to the spacecraft itself. john fitch: what about the next step ist: after the mercury suit this one. this is a suit very similar to this, in fact identical.

hite. won by -- worn by w this is a very high temperature nylon that can withstand very high temperatures, 700 degrees. john fitch: does he have the sun shining on him and space? matt: yes, although it is primarily used in case the spacecraft itself got hot on the outside so that he would not be burnt, it would protect the material underneath. remember, the f -- the temperature outside can be up to 220 degrees. john fitch: yes to support life out there. and this has an umbilical cord. , he: under the white flight received his oxygen through this port, through a long on biblical , and it was -- on biblical -- umbilical and the oxygen came

right over his visor. and also, it might be interesting to note that he uses very low flow rates because he did not do that much work. he worked hard, but not much harder than he would normally. either inside the spacecraft or on earth. the suit itself was equipped with lights. i don't know if we have them shown here, which would allow them to impact the spacecraft when he was inside the spacecraft to scan his instruments without destroying dark applications when he was on the dark side of the earth. john fitch: what kind of suit anywhere on the way to the moon? cabin, they the will need a suit at all. let me show you what they will be wearing. here is our constant wear garment. john fitch: it looks like the long underwear. matt: that is what it is.

it is a modified set of long underwear used as a carrier. there will be electronic equipment for amplifying signals that come out of biosensors. here is one right here. and this will stick to his skin on the inside. john fitch: so he has all of them in -- that is all he has on? matt: the main reason for a suit is to protect the man against low pressures, very low at the same time in the event of returning to the have, we have to protection against the earth's environment in an emergency. under normal engagements, we don't expect them to wear this. john fitch: then once i do get to the moon, can they wear something like -- matt: there is a whole series of problems associated with the very popular environment of the moon.

first, we have to protect the man against thermal loads he lows he willal encounter on the service. micro meteorites, which are a constant source of potential danger, and the splashes of rocks that come out when a senior -- single meteoroid closes in on the astronaut. the author the protect against infrared and ultraviolet should -- ultraviolet radiation. there is a lack of atmosphere around the moon. we have to protect the man against very hot and cold temperatures associated with the surface of the moon. there are a whole series of them. we have to have this self-contained life-support system. this life-support system would have to include a whole series of items that we can discuss later.

john fitch: how are you going to stop all these problems? matt: it is interesting. here we have an indication. thank you. here we have a mannequin dressed in a liquid cooling garments. . if you will note, the inside of this garment is covered with small tubules. these little tubules are filled with water. they are actually filled prior to flight. causing a flowby of water through the main branch and then returning it from this secondary branch we , have the ability to pick up heat directly from the skin which keeps the man's temperature,skin down, which gives him from perspiring. john fitch: it is like air-conditioning. matt: normally you do. this is supposed to pick up all of the perspiration associated with his work. on the moon surface, we expect

the man to work hard, very hard, twice the rate he works on the service of the earth. as a result his work rate is so , high and his production of perspiration so great that we can't possibly take it all up by the rate and amount of gas available in the portable life-support system. john fitch: then does he wear this thing over that? over ao, this is worn very light set of skivvies, light underwear, which we have over here. john fitch: can we see that? i will get rid of this for you. matt: thank you. oh, it does look quite a bit different from the gemini suit. matt: it is, it is one of the earlier models of the apollo suit. note the joints particularly.

this is a demonstration of a constant volume joint concept that was 72 us by one of the contractors who ultimately won the contract for the moon suit. john fitch: what do you mean by constant? matt: under this design, the man can move and when he moves, he , does not disturb the column of air, so that the internal pressure remains constant. air fitch: if he squeezed -- matt: if he squeezed air and the force would prevent him from making any sort of motion. deal of workeat anyway, and we want to keep this to a minimum. he is not pressurized at this time, being ventilated civilly to keep cool. -- simply to keep cool. john fitch: could we see the actual apollo suit? matt: yes, let's take a look at the suit now. john fitch: it seems to me he is

walking a little more stiffly than the other fellow. matt: there is a little over 3.5 psi, meeting there is pound 3.5 differential pressure in his suit. it is slightly inflated. but you can see there is a considerable pressure associated with this mode of operation. the gases are ventilated. ,he incoming gases come in here go through his helmet, then pass over the front of the suit and stop it from clogging. a portion of the gases. the rest of the gases are down to the extremities, fingers and toes, then come back uncollected and go back through here. john fitch: when the astronauts leave the land for their expiration of the lunar service, they will strap on one of the most important parts of the extracurricular vehicle movement. to learn about this unusual

backpack, we visited the hamilton standard division in windsor locks, connecticut, where this is manufactured. we talked with mr. ronald laying, project manager. here in the spacelab, i would like to show you a full-scale portable this life-support system or backpack. here is all of the required essentials for life-support. it has everything spacecraft exclusion ofth the expulsion. >> you don't have any rockets? ronald: no. water is going and coming to the suit. there is an electrical and biblical -- electrical umbilical. he puts the pressure suit on and is connected.

>> and there is a harness on his shoulder? ronald: it weighs about 35 pounds. but on the space it is not. >> because of reduced gravity. ronald: this is the basis for life-support, chief among these the supply and regulation of oxygen to the suit. this contains a little over one pound of oxygen. 850 psi, and is regulated down to see pressure -- suit pressure. it would not be trouble because it is pure oxygen, the same amount on earth. the oxygen goes to the pressure suit and thanks up carbon dioxide and brings it back to the on the local to the backpack, and -- to the umbilical, to the backpack. we have to use a chemical absorption bed. we have a contaminant removal

that removes odors and carbon dioxide. show you then, a cartridge which is replaceable. we use one in each mission. it can be activated and is completely assumed -- consumed at the end of the mission. ronald: looks like an oil filter. ronald: exactly. it adds heat to the system. i should add that for that to be effective, the fact it is sitting here by itself does not do us any good. we have to come up with a technique to get the co2 leighton oxygen on the helmet to the backpack. for this reason, we use a fan. this is right over here. the fan is powered by an electric motor. we also use a palm to push the liquid -- pump to push the liquid cooling. the pump sits right at this point and it is also electric. >> spin the water and bring it back. how do you cool what is inside

the backpack? ronald: the water is about eight degrees when it goes through the liquid garment, and the oxygen has a lot of moisture. this is all cooled in this box right here, which is a sublimate her. herblimate her -- sublimate ator keeps temperature constant. the snow goes directly from the ice phase to the gas phase, and it never melts in between. the principle of operation is exacting the same. sublimator. a complete and actual sublimate or. the water comes in here and leaves here. the water we are turning into ice that is supplied is coming in from here. what it does is it becomes an

isolator in the layers in here become highest -- become iced, and for it to go from ice to gas, it must pull away from its surroundings. it cools the entire assembly down to 32 degrees. in so doing, the oxygen and water that go through here are cooled down to the levels that we have to have. >> that is very interesting. ronald: we have others in the backpack that are not life-support elements per se. the chief among these is the munication. we have a communication subsystem. it sits right on top of the and is cooled by an antenna. you can talk back to the landlord via the land. that is a transmitter and receiver. show you the component there. this is the communication system. >> it is very small. andld: it is very small

compact. it has channels that are continuously tell a metered if the man desires. he can shut off the telemetry. it is ekg. >> how do you power all of this? ronald: we power electric motors and many systems with a battery -- and the communication systems with a battery. we have many batteries, they go in here. this is five pounds and is designed with the launch vibration in the vehicle from cape kennedy in mind. it is a very rugged and reliable battery. >> enough to run for hours? for five hours. hours. or five if we need to bring the man back in the event of a failure, the astronaut will have various systems that tell us he has problems if he does. two of them will be low pressure warning device, which triggered

this warning advisor if the suit pressure goes below 3.2 psi. >> how would that happen owner ronald: if there is a leak in the system or it stops supplying oxygen. the other thing we would like to tell them about is if you are using too much oxygen. we have a flow warning, you are using oxygen too fast, do something. >> but if he gets into one of these problems? ronald: he has an emergency mode of operation. he has an emergency oxygen system which is built onto here for exactly that purpose. the emergency oxygen system is 7500 square inch supply. we can use it in conjunction with the main supply and give us emergency oxygen ventilation and purging of the helmet area, even though the fan failed. that goes up here against the backpack.

another emergency system is the communications. see the rest of the spacesuit to be worn on the moon, we talked again with mr. matthew at the spacecraft center in houston. >> is white garment, what is that for? matt: it is made up into layers. these are the layers of materials. the first layer is -- this whole garment provides protection against radiant energy. impinging on the suit from the sun and also reflected from the moon, and also protecting against meteoroids. this is the most interesting ventilation. this ventilation only works in a vacuum. it is similar to the material that we have and a thermos model on earth. this man is a completely enclosed thermos jug. it has seven or eight layers of

this material, and then it is covered with abrasive resistance material we talked about before. and it also has the salt layer, this nylon felt which has bumper protection against meteoroids that we also discussed. --the lunar service, we have lunar surface, we have meteoroids which are wantonly hitting the moon. -- constantly hitting the moon. even if they don't hit the man, hit close to the man, they travel at a speed of 30,000 feet for second or higher. as they hit the moon, they set showers of rocks which also have high energies associated with them, and traveling close to the man, were it not for this layer -- >> how big are these? matt: five microns in diameter upwards.

andcan't see them actually, as i said before, 10 times the speed of a bullet. >> they have a lot of energy. matt: they are so fast that [indiscernible] >> these are very unusual shoes that he has on top of regular shoes. matt: no, this portion of the suit protects against radiant energy. the boots provide protection against conductive heat. lost or gained through the fold of the shoe. >> the service of the moon can be hot to touch? matt: it can range between 250 degrees and minus 230 degrees. so the heat could be tremendous. ,nd then we have these visors which protect against ultraviolet and infrared rays, resulting from the lack of an

atmosphere around the moon. normally on earth we have an atmosphere that filters out to a great degree harm of april -- harmful radiation. on the moon, there is no such cover, and we have to provide it. they could have burns and so forth. he must have this kind of protection. these fold down over his regular clothes? ultraviolet,ne for one for radiation. the visible range. >> like sunglasses? matt: yeah. >> with all of his material on, we wonder how he can stomp around? matt: show him some of the exercises. you can shut your eyes, 3.7. he does quite a bit. so that is fine on your end

here, but is it the same upon the moon? matt: it would not be the same on the moon, no. on earth, were this test was just run, which was one g. in order to determine how much effort is associated with working on the lunar surface, we must somehow stimulate the lunar gravity, lunar gravity being approximately 1/6 that of the earth. we have three ways of achieving this. g stimulator,1/ 1/6 which we have done here. it is levers, balanced with a man hanging on one end. he is like one portion of a giant mobile. by counterbalancing and overweighting one side, we can give him the effect, the effect g. 1/6

but there is great mass and inertia associated with this rig. we can overcome this with several ropes and men on the end of them so that it will not take over from the man. there is a third one, second one. this is the langley simulator where a large pendulum, a very large pendulum is attached to a man sideways. who attempts to walk as though he were walking on the side of a building. he is held by six or eight tethers and articulation on his body. in this manner, we can vary the point or pivot of the pendulum so as to stimulate once again, 1/6 on his boot soles. but with this aircraft, which through scientific parabolic up 1/6 g.cs can bring

we have done the most effective the caseyltitudes in 135 craft. it is applied by the air force. >> when you put it all together, what does the spacesuit cost? matt: the mercury's it was between $6,000 and $7,000. -- thecury spacesuit gemini spacesuit will be approximately $35,000, and the apollo suit when it is completed will be somewhere around $150,000 including the portable life-support system. >> and you feel this is the ultimate spacesuit? matt: no, there is another spacesuit being developed, undergoing a series of tests that have been imposed on the other suits. this is a hard suit. this suit is fabricated of aluminum and honeycombs.

>> like a suit of armor. matt: it is indeed a suit of armor with an exception of the visor which is a plastic. the joints are covered with cloth, just for purposes of dust andn, keeping stuff out of them. many of us feel this type is the ultimate in lunar exploration. mobilitytravehicular unit for apollo is not the final word in spacesuit. the search is already underway on more advanced systems. we know matter what they look like, they will benefit from the experience gained with apollo's emu. today, we visited the manned spacecraft center in houston texas. i am john fitch, mit's science reporter. ♪ [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016]

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"american history tv," military historian paul springer talks about the use of cutting-edge technology in the united states military. he argues the advancement of robotic weaponry in warfare such as drones and artificial intelligence have revolutionized military affairs, making previous tactics obsolete. the new york historical society hosted this 90-minute event. >> now is a pleasure to introduce my colleague and friend paul springer, who is a senior fellow of the foreign policy researchers but also from his day job at the air command and staff college in alabama. he also taught at at west point. he is the author of many books and many coming out on cyber war, military robotics, the history of prisoners of war and a load of other topics. he