Innovations in helmet design have also been significant. For instance, the helmets on space suits built for spacewalks serve as a pressure bubble and are made of strong plastic to keep the ...

Before leaving the space shuttle to perform tasks in space ... and a parachute pack. The suit, consisting of helmet, communication assembly, torso, gloves and boots, provides counterpressure ...

The Z-2 is the newest prototype, with a bubble helmet, hard upper torso ... and technology grows apace. Space historian Roger Launius says the first suits were based on what jet pilots wore.

"The helmet is custom manufactured using ... But Behnken and Hurley will be the first humans to test the suits while flying through space. NASA astronauts who have gone to the space station ...

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 ...