Narrator: But the spacesuits NASA currently uses are more than 40 years old. 18 suits were developed for the Space Shuttle program in 1974 and have vastly overworked their original 15-year-life ...

This story appears in the July 2019 issue of National Geographic magazine. Space suits—designed to provide oxygen and consistent atmospheric pressure—have evolved from pressure suits for ...

Photograph by BILL STAFFORD AND ROBERT MARKOWITZ, NASA But fashion is fickle, and technology grows apace. Space historian Roger Launius says the first suits were based on what jet pilots wore.

The decision proved to be a good one, and the space suits served all 12 Americans who have walked on the Moon. In fact, the company is still responsible for producing NASA’s space suits to this day.

This shielding technology isn’t just new — it’s been tested and proven. Vollebak’s Shielding Suit uses the same electromagnetic shielding techniques that NASA used for its Mars Rover.

Space suits are high-tech marvels designed to protect astronauts from space’s extreme conditions. Discover the materials, ...