The Spokesman-Review, February 17, 1961 Page 6 "Latest Moon Suit Thing to Behold!" (AP)

The Spokesman-Review, February 17, 1961 Page 6

Article describing the Moon Suit's appearance at UCLA in the Spokane, Washington's The Spokesman-Review, February 17, 1961.

Transcript:

Latest Moon Suit Thing to Behold!

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 16. (AP) - The newest thing in moon suits is an awesome monster 71/2 feet tall in which an astronaut can explore the lunar surface for days at a time without having to return to base.

When perfected the weird-looking suit should enable the explorer to:

1. Feed himself from cans carried inside its bulbous, 30-inch-diameter aluminum torso.
2. Drive his "moon jeep" with a remote control panel, also built inside the torso.
3. Leave the jeep, and walk about surveying and collecting rock samples.
4. Catch naps in a special cradle projecting from the front of the moonmobile.

"Space suit, lunar exploration, MKI" was modeled yesterday by Dr. John Lyman, head of the biotechnology laboratory of the University of California at Les Angeles.

Lyman and a group of students next month will begin working the bugs out of the suit, loaned to UCLA for this purpose by designer Allyn B. Hazard, who recently disclosed plans for the moon jeep that goes with it.

Most currently planned space suits are designed to keep a man alive for only a few hours at best. Then he has to return to his ship or his base. The new moon suit would give an explorer much greater freedom.

It will have lights inside and out, and a glass porthole at the bottom of the torso so the explorer can see the ground at his feet.

Lyman is even studying how to dispose of body wastes, a real problem when the explorer plans to stay in the suit for days at a time.

With the suit on, Lyman, a husky six-footer, had an earth weight of some 340 pounds. But that shouldn't be a factor on the moon. There, where gravity is only one sixth that of the earth, he would weigh a mere 57 pounds.

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