This page is about the Mercury spacesuit, the suit that NASA used for Project Mercury, America's first series of space flights.
These suits are Mercury suits. They were not really space suits, because they were not equipped to exit the safety of the Mercury spacecraft. They were actually only pressure suits. In fact, the Mercury pressure suit was simply a modified version of the Navy's Mark IV high-altitude pressure suit.The Mercury suit had two zippers for entry: one that went from the front of the waist, around the back of the astronaut, and up to his left shoulder. The second zipper went around the waist. The oxygen inlet was on the astronaut's left abdomen section, and it supplied oxygen to the suit for cooling and to the helmet for breathing. The oxygen outlet was on the right side of the helmet, and it connected to the spacecraft's life-support system to filter and reuse the oxygen.
The Mercury suit had a padded helmet that had a single, clear, pull-down visor. The communication line was on the left side of the helmet, and the bio-medical connection was on the front of the astronaut's right leg. This was the only suit to have the communication line and bio-medical lines connect seperately. The suit itself was covered in an aluminized silver-colored fabric, to reflect heat.
The boots of the suit were seperate, as well. To seal the suit at the feet, loose "socks" of airtight fabric were attached directly to the legs of the suit. Seperate boots were laced up tightly over the pressure socks to keep them from balloning and becoming too cumbersome. The gloves attached with a ring connector to the wrists and the gloves were held in place by a flap of fabric that surrounded the wrist of the glove and attached to the wrist of the suit with a zipper.
