Dear reader,

I am guilty of lying. Yesterday, after trying on the DIY space suit I told everyone that this experience will not be exceeded by anything for a long time. The suit-up sessionfollowed up by a few dance-moves and dexterity tests was an incredible experience and can be seen in the video presented below, by Claus Mejling.

But today was even better, far more extreme and amazing.

The main purpose of the day was to perform seating modifications and egress-tests while suited up and pressurized inside the capsule.

Naturally, the seat must to fit the suited astronaut and before Cameron and John arrived to Copenhagen I created a basic seating frame giving us the longest size available, inside the capsule facing the hatch.

During a couple of sessions with Cameron inside the capsule I stuffed myself down next to him, performing measurements while adding foam under his lumbar-region, buttock and feet - changing the seat from an uncomfortable flat piece of metal to an actual comfy seat.

This session quickly revealed what to be changed to the next generation seat such as elbow width and feet bay and we managed to map the visual envelope through the eyes of the astronaut.

The next following sessions with both Cameron, myself and Peter Madsen were extreme. We tried to fast egress the capsule while pressurized. Before doing so we tried without wearing a helmet and unpressurized to get some experience and to avoid suit and hose damages.

Cameron Smith trying egress procedure unpressurized. Image: Kristian von Bengtson Cameron Smith trying egress procedure unpressurized. Image: Kristian von Bengtson

All three of us tried to perform the fast egress and this was a very intense experience. While pressurized inside the capsule (app 1 psi) arms and legs want to expand your body like a balloon and even just reaching out toward the hatch opening was almost impossible. Each of us spend at least 30-50 seconds on this procedure desperately trying to reach toward anything nearby, feet and leg kicking and general nonsense body-wobbling.

A simple procedure like this required all the power and muscle we had while John Haslett tried to keep up with dumping CO2 and adding breathing gas.

Kristian von Bengtson prior to egress test. Image: John Haslett Kristian von Bengtson prior to egress test. Image: John Haslett

Peter Madsen ready for egress test, pressurized. Image: Kristian von Bengtson

If fast egress procedures should not end in disaster during a failed descent it has to be done in 5 (or so) seconds. The way to reach this goal requires adding the constant volume joints in the suit and correct placed handles inside the capsule and even foot plates on the seat, for pushing oneself out the hatch.

My personal experience from this egress test was extreme intensity and total helplessness. I felt like a paralyzed turtle on its back and simply reaching out toward anything required more power than my arms had. Tomorrow a video of these egress tests will be released here on Wired.

We are far from done with this suit adventure and the only thing stopping it – for now – is when Cameron Smith and John Haslett will fly back, Wednesday. But we have more tests to perform and Monday we will do the free-fall testing and Tueday high-altitude chamber testing.

Damn – what a ride!

Ad Astra

Kristian von Bengtson