NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams wore David Clark Company's newest space suit, the S1100 Salus, to orbit on June 5, 2024. Launched aboard Boeing's Starliner spacecraft at 10:52am EDT, the two astronauts wore their Salus suits throughout launch operations, marking the beginning of their journey to the International Space Station. They will also wear the suits during docking and reentry operations as they complete this certification flight of both the vehicle and the suit.
The S1100 Salus is the lightest weight space suit ever flown. It offers extreme comfort, minimal thermal burden, and does not require the complexity, mass, and bulk associated with liquid cooling. Its integral air-cooling features, including a diverter valve that allows for multiple operating modes and a selectively permeable bladder layer, kept the astronauts cool as they waited on the launch pad prior to liftoff from the Florida coast.
Building upon David Clark's storied history as a provider of space suits for Gemini, Apollo, and Space Shuttle missions, the engineering and design team incorporated innovative features in the new suit design. These features include touch-screen compatible gloves, a soft helmet, and lightweight conformal footwear co-developed with Reebok. The suit's extremely wide field of view, high mobility elbows and shoulders, and minimal bulk ensure that crewmembers have maximum capability inside their spacecraft for both nominal and contingency operations.
With the successful completion of the Crew Flight Test, the S1100 Salus suit will serve as the qualified baseline design for Starliner missions. Additionally, the suit is set to become the new gold standard for launch and entry space suits, serving as a design reference for future David Clark suit designs.
The introduction of the S1100 Salus marks a significant milestone in the evolution of space suit technology. Its advanced features and lightweight design not only improve the safety and comfort of astronauts but also set new standards for future space missions. The successful deployment of this suit could have far-reaching implications for the aerospace industry, potentially influencing the design and development of next-generation space suits and enhancing the overall efficiency and safety of space travel.
