Pressure Suit, AX-5

This is an AX-5 prototype spacesuit. The name is an abbreviation for Ames Research Center, Experimental Suit Design. It was the fifth and final in the series. Technicians and engineers at NASA's Ames Research Center built the suit to demonstrate possible means of providing high-pressure mobility to future space suits. This suit was planned for post-Apollo programs, possibly space station use. Because the suit has a rigid structure, it can withstand high levels of air pressure and thus allow astronauts to forego the requirement to pre-breathe oxygen to purge nitrogen from his or her blood before taking a spacewalk. The round, toroidal joints allow astronauts free movement, nearly matching that of a human not wearing a spacesuit. NASA continues to use some of the features in this suit in planning for the next generation spacesuit for space station, lunar, asteroid and planetary missions. The suit has an alumium based that is covered with enamel.

NASA Ames Research Center transferred this suit to the Museum in 2004.