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The Astronaut's New Clothes
Metox writes: "An article posted on www.sciam.com gives a glimpse into the future of space clothing for use in hostile environments, Earth orbit, Mars, etc. Of all the facts in the article, the one I found most interesting is that the current EVA (Extra Vehicular Activity) suit is an astonishing 24 years old. However, the article gives a good reason for this. As the EVA suit is used in a microgravity environment, mobility isn't as important, and dexterity can be enhanced by simple changes to the arms and hands. The article highlights the current tests of two new EVA/Mars contenders, the I-Suit and the H-Suit."
Don't let the jews make the suits, they'll leak and shit because the greedy kikes want to cut costs!
space is not going to be really conqurable until we can get skin tight style suits going. Even with the fact that in space weight becomes less of a problems (it is not gone, it returns as inertia force). Range of mobility in an enviroment that can kill you will be key. I would hope that they are spending more research in this area. Polarizing suits and cermic wire heaters would seem to be the way to go. The real trick is keeping what is on the inside from leaking to the ourside. Non-porus plastics are available, I would think you could layer those with light sensitice polarizing compunds, beef up the style of artic survival suits heaters and give it a go. If we can free ourselves from the bulkyness of the suits we have now anything in space will be possible.
Papa Legba come and open the gate
I just heard some sad news on talk radio - Horror/Sci Fi writer Stephen King was found dead in his Maine home this morning. There weren't any more details. I'm sure everyone in the Slashdot community will miss him - even if you didn't enjoy his work, there's no denying his contributions to popular culture. Truly an American icon.
As such wonderful documentaries as The Siege have so articulately exposed, the Liberal masterminds in Berkeley and their toadies throughout the nation have been silently waging war against the American people and their God-given rights to protect themselves, their worship, their family values, and their hard work. Much of this has been conducted under the guise of preventing "terrorism", a meaningless word engineered by radical left-wingers specifically to bring fear into the heart of honest Americans. Think about it -- can you remember any reference to so-called "terrorism" that occurred before Liberals invaded our government offices in the last decade? Of course you can't, because despite whatever the revisionist histories may tell you, there is no mention of any "terrorism" in classic literature before 1980. Only then did the neo-Marxists invent such absurd figures as Timothy McVeigh and Osama Bin Laden in order to legitimize their anti-freedom agenda, drowning the spirit of the American people in a blatantly-engineered machine of fear and mourning for "victims" of these "terrorist attacks".
In fact, it should be incredibly obvious that the concept of a 110-story building even being built, much less two, is a clear and obvious fraud. No documentation of these "twin towers" existed before a "terrorist attack" occured on the previously-nonexistent pair of skyscrapers on September the 11th. Due to this hoax being perpetrated by the Liberal-controlled media, suddenly people all over the world mourned the loss of thousands of people who had not existed before. Innocent men and women, brainwashed by the left-wing education institutions, gave firsthand accounts of losing relatives they never had until the "attack" happened.
But the most outrageous aspect of this hoax is the "Pentagon" -- a government office fabricated especially for this purpose. Liberal media claims this imaginary building to be "the center of America's defense system", although obviously an organization as proud and God-fearing as the United States Military would never think to station themselves in a building of five sides, so obviously close to the pentagram, mark of Lucifer himself. It is insulting to the nation's intelligence that eight hundred members of the world's proudest institution would be made to meet their Lord by something as graceful, efficient, and secure as our country's fine aviation system.
Don't let the devious tricks of the Liberals allow you, a citizen of the greatest nation this Earth has ever or will ever know, to surrender your freedoms. Any lesser nation would have succumbed to their wills long ago, and indeed the socialist states in Europe already have. It is only the superior resilience, pride, and intellect of America that has allowed it to withstand the constant threat of Liberal control.
props to all dead homiez. fuck niggers. fuck mackga. fuck cyborg_monkey. fuck evil_spork. fuck cmdrtaco on. fuck you. fuck 'em all. fuck. fuck. fuck. fuck. fuck. fuck. fuck. fuck. fuck.
Sounds like a good idea. I am all for it.
Would it be possible for an astronaut stranded in space in one of these suits (or any suit) to manuever themselves to the space station at all, or would they be pretty fucked? I know it sounds highly unlikely, but it could happen, couldn't it?
From the article:
The Hamilton Sundstrand team is considering a technology that would project information onto the helmet's visor or onto the astronaut's retina. They are also looking into small wrist-worn devices.
This is why I love seemingly pointless scientific endeavors. Why should we go to Mars? I guess it's cool, maybe we'll find some cool microrganisms to study, etc, but cool new gadgets are what I'm into.
I want this display info on my glasses system. Forget PDAs, all your info could be on your glasses. Even better, maybe on your contacts. No more forgetting my PDA in my backpack. This is freakin cool!
F-bacher
James Tiberius Kirk: "Spock, the women on your planet are logical. No other planet in the galaxy can make that claim."
Astronaut suits need to have bulges to accomodate for women breasts.
you're just a perv. too much anime and space opera.
Given this bloody record, why should anyone be surprised that those
... thats going to haunt us in terms of
who have been targeted by the United States have sought to strike
back?
The same media that is now screaming for blood has routinely applauded
the use of violence against whatever country or people are deemed to
be obstacles to US interests. Let us recall the words of New York
Times columnist Thomas Friedman, who had this to say to the Serbian
people during the US bombing campaign in 1999: It should be
lights out in Belgrade: every power grid, water pipe, road and
war-related factory has to be hit.... [W]e will set your country back
by pulverizing you. You want 1950? We can do 1950. You want 1389? We
can do 1389.
The foreign policy of the US is a mixture of cynicism, brutality and
irresponsibility. Washington has pursued a course that has inflamed
the hatred of large sections of the worlds population, creating
an environment in which recruits can be found for bloody terrorist
operations. In rare moments of candor, foreign policy specialists have
acknowledged that the actions of the United States provoke hatred and
the desire for retribution. During the Balkan War, former Secretary of
State Lawrence Eagleburger stated: Weve presented to the
rest of the world a vision of the bully on the block who pushes a
button, people out there die, we dont pay anything except the
cost of a missile
trying to deal with the rest of the world in the years ahead.
This insight has not prevented the same Eagleburger from declaring
Tuesday night that the United States should respond to the destruction
of the World Trade Center by dropping bombs immediately on any country
that might have been involved.
George W. Bushs address to the nation Tuesday evening
epitomized the arrogance and blindness of the American ruling class.
Far from America being the brightest beacon for freedom and
opportunity in the world, the US is seen by tens of millions as
the main enemy of their human and democratic rights, and the main
source of their oppression. The American ruling elite, in its
insolence and cynicism, acts as if it can carry out its violent
enterprises around the world without creating the political conditions
for violent acts of retribution.
In the immediate aftermath of Tuesdays attacks, US authorities
and the media are once again declaring that Osama bin Laden is
responsible. This is possible, although, as always, they present no
evidence to back up their claim.
But the charge that bin Laden is the culprit raises a host of
troubling questions. Given the fact that the US has declared this
individual to be the worlds most deadly terrorist, whose every
move is tracked with the aid of the most technologically sophisticated
and massive intelligence apparatus, how could bin Laden organize such
an elaborate attack without being detected? An attack, moreover,
against the same New York skyscraper that was hit in 1993?
The devastating success of his assault would indicate that, from the
standpoint of the American government, the crusade against terrorism
has been far more a campaign of propaganda to justify US military
violence around the world than a conscientious effort to protect the
American people.
Moreover, both bin Laden and the Taliban mullahs, whom the US accuses
of harboring him, were financed and armed by the Reagan-Bush
administration to fight pro-Soviet regimes in Afghanistan in the
1980s. If they are involved in Tuesdays operations, then the
American CIA and political establishment are guilty of having nurtured
the very forces that carried out the bloodiest attack on American
civilians in US history.
The escalation of US militarism abroad will inevitably be accompanied
by intensified attacks on democratic rights at home. The first victims
of the war fever being whipped up are Arab-Americans, who are already
being subjected to death threats and other forms of harassment as a
result of the media hysteria.
The calls from both Republican and Democratic politicians for a
declaration of war foreshadow a more general crackdown on opponents of
American foreign policy. General Norman Schwarzkopf, who commanded
American troops in the 1991 invasion of Iraq, spoke for much of the
political and military elite when he declared on television that the
war on alleged terrorist supporters should be conducted inside as well
as outside the borders of the US.
It is the policies pursued by the United States, driven by the
strategic and financial interests of the ruling elite, which laid the
foundations for the nightmare that unfolded on Tuesday. The actions
now being contemplated by the Bush administrationindicated by
the presidents threat to make no distinction between the
terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor
themwill only set the stage for further catastrophes.
I'm Al Gore. I demand a recount! I'm Al Gore. I demand a damn recount! I'm Al Gore. I demand a goddamn recount! I'm Al Gore. I demand a fucking recount! I'm Al Gore. I demand a mother fucking recount! I'm Al Gore. I demand a recount! I'm Al Gore. I demand a mother fucking recount!
And fuck the postercomment compression filter. Recount that son of a bitch, too.
In nearly all sci-fi, people in space wear skin-tight suits. Since space is a vacuum, I can understand why a suit would tend to billow out, but does anybody know if it is possible to make a non-bulky skinsuit? Maybe something like the G suits pilots wear? Maybe something related to scuba diving (though I know the pressure difference there is the opposite)? I dunno, but if I'm not going to get my hovercar anytime soon, I at least want my spacesuit.
if there's one thing the last week has taught me, it's that it's time for some good, old-fashioned, all-American mass xenophobic hysteria. kill a raghead for Christ today!
they'll need to add a huge bulge for my penis
props to all dead homiez. fuck niggers. fuck mackga. fuck cyborg_monkey. fuck evil_spork. fuck cmdrtaco on. fuck you. fuck 'em all. fuck. fuck. fuck. fuck. fuck. fuck. fuck. fuck. fuck.
> In fact, it should be incredibly obvious that
> the concept of a 110-story building even being
> built, much less two, is a clear and obvious
> fraud. No documentation of these "twin towers"
> existed before a "terrorist attack" occured on
> the previously-nonexistent pair of skyscrapers
> on September the 11th.
I guess it's too early for any sort of sense of humor on the subject.
I can't believe goatse.cx has changed their main page.
The guy is gone from there.
look for yourself.
When we go to Mars, best case right now, you would be in transit for six months," Hodgson says. Once the spacecraft reached the planet, it could stay for only a few days.
A couple days seem a bad return on billions of dollars. Mars base on the other hand....
I can't believe it.
are you all fucking androids??
mmmmmmm i love penis
I dont think any suit short of multiple layers of Kevlar (heh, like a hundred) is going to protect an astronaut from being killed by a fleck of paint going 20,000 MPH..Thats the main problem I think should be addressed. I'd be more concerned about physical safety than I would be about mobility.
Cheers,
Bowie J. Poag
Imagine 38 of D in zero-G.
What about space suits for the penis challenged?
As you may know, extended stay in a suit in the airforce is miserable for females once the primary diaper padding is soiled.
catheterizing may help, but self catheterizing is difficult and prone to problems over multiple usage. Even worse, extgended catheterization of female urethra weakens an already very weak structure.
The male urethra has a strong ring of circular bands to prevent not only urine output, but to prevent massive retrograde ejaculation.
Basically thick viscous ejaculate matter can go only forward, not backward into the bladder.
Females, unfortunately, lack a solid ring and as can be seen in anatomical photo cross sections, possess two bulbous muscular clumps to serve as a partial seal.
That is one reason many females are more incontinent than men, and why many more females urinate while giggling than men.
Elderly men with prostate problems are a different problem.
But without penii, it is aparent that these space suits are miserable eternal wet diapers for females.
this is asuming that females are going to be needed in space for critical work in the first place and equal to mens endurance, strength, and intellect.
The drawing in the story shows a sight hard to believe, a biological female comfortable on mars.
As you may know, extended stay in a suit in the airforce is miserable for females once the primary diaper padding (for females) is soiled.
Catheterizing may help, but self catheterizing is difficult and prone to problems over multiple chronic application. Even worse, extgended-duration catheterization of female urethra weakens an already very weak structure.
The male urethra has a strong ring of circular bands to prevent not only urine output, but to prevent massive retrograde ejaculation.
Basically thick viscous ejaculate matter can go only forward, not backward into the bladder.
Females, unfortunately, lack a solid ring and as can be seen in anatomical photo cross sections, possess two bulbous muscular clumps to serve as a partial seal.
That is one reason many females are more incontinent than men, and why many more females urinate while giggling than men.
Elderly men with prostate problems are a different problem, and I am discounting their statistics here..
But without penii, it is aparent that these space suits are miserable eternal wet diapers for females.
this is asuming that females are going to be needed in space for critical work in the first place.
tr00l! onmygodim a tr00l on shasldhot what willi think of n3xt?
Maybe this could mean the US and Russians will finally standardize on one space suit, instead of having to spend millions on an airlock because god forbid we cooperate...
end communication
Nah, women can pee just like men, they just don't admit it.
Spacesuits are special clothes that are made in order to protect the bodies of astronauts in the space. Astronauts may keep being alive by wearing spacesuits in the space at all times. Human beings are not able to keep their lives in the space by wearing clothes as those on the earth. For this
reason, astronauts wear specially manufactured spacesuits so that they can endure the vaccuum, radiation, and temperatures.
Mars is a different environment from that of the earth on which we live. It is a space in which there is practically no atmospheric pressure nor significant oxygen, and the extremely hot and cold environments are repeated by the solar energy. Also, astronauts are threatened by the space dust
flying around at a fast speed, various electronic waves, radiation, etc. Therefore, in order for an astronaut to come out of a spaceship and to move around freely, and to urinate.
This post was first marked -1 troll, then mismoderated to offtopic. Clearly the most on topic post in the thread at this moment is the following post.
It regards the main artwork of the story and discusses the problem of LONG TERM space suit usage.
The drawing in the story shows a sight hard to believe, a biological female comfortable on mars.
As you may know, extended stay in a suit in the airforce is miserable for females once the primary diaper padding (for females) is soiled.
catheterizing may help, but self catheterizing is difficult and prone to problems over multiple usage. Even worse, extgended catheterization of female urethra weakens an already very weak structure.
The male urethra has a strong ring of circular bands (including "fundus ring") to prevent not only urine output, but to prevent massive retrograde ejaculation. A backup sphincter of striated, not smooth, muscle assists in male continence as well.
Basically thick viscous ejaculate matter can go only forward, not backward through the sphincter into the bladder.
Females, unfortunately, lack a solid ring and as can be seen in anatomical photo cross sections, possess two bulbous muscular clumps to serve as a partial seal.
That is one reason many females are more incontinent than men, and why many more females urinate while giggling than men.
Elderly men with prostate problems are a different problem.
But without penii, it is aparent that these space suits are miserable eternal wet diapers for females.
This is asuming that females are going to be needed in space for critical work in the first place.
Did the moderator even LOOK at the story before slamming this to -1?
Am I the only one who thinks it looks like something out of an ould sci-fi movie. I'm a bit young but the first thing that poped into my head was "Danger Danger"
It was me, I did it, I moved your cheese
the problem is that it cannot be sleeved (sheathed) to collect waste in a leg bag with a oneway valve, allowing 5 days of steady collection before desuiting.
vaccuum prevents, or hinders, desuiting. In fact , using a dual seal method, the waste can be portted out a vent after sealing a clasp before the bag.
This "urine dump" results in a spectacular shower of crystalized sparking urine.
Current suits do not have urine dump features or multiday collection.
And suits for females NEVER will.
This evidently requires the moderator to make this -1 perpetually.
strange.
I piss on Mecca. I wipe my ass with the Koran. I spit upon Mohammed.
Am I the only one who sees this and wonders if it will come in nifty translucent colors?
Those who can't do, teach. Those who can't teach either, do tech support.
Its true the day of the bombing both the republicans and democratic senators said to reporters that they woud vote on DENYING INSURANCE CLAIMS to all the victims of the WTC bombings!
The next day President Bush said the same thing TWICE, in one instance it was in an actual speech now called by the press the "Acts of War" speech!
Finally Colin Powwel from the State Department answerred at 6pm two days ago on a live NPR news interview if the state department would consider denying all the dead victims any life insurance policy money under the Acts of War exclusionary clauses in over 90% of all insurance parpers and riders... he not only concurred... Colin Powell claimed it was TWO ACTS OF WAR!
This means that the dead fbi and dead firemen also get NADDA!
Zip!
Zero!
Nothing!
In 1995 WTC mini-bombing one insurance company tried to go to court and claim that terrorist act was an act of war and that they would not pay.... they backed down. they had no official government assistence.
I knew this crap would happed BEFORE THE FIRST TOWER FELL.
I was correct, sadly. Many people in LA on talk radio now agreee with me.
The government is willing to tax us 40 BILLION for new antiterror programs but not allow any people to collect from otherwise beleagured insurance underwriters.
What do you think! Its true.
As a Sci-Fi Geek, I won't be happy until everyone in space has a set of Power Armor with weapons and jump jets fully integrated!! :)
Can someone please mod this down or remove this post.
/., despite what's happened this week.
Let's try to be civil here at
first off.. i haven't posted since the tragedy... R.I.P to all the innocent victims... and my hopes and prayers go out to their families and friends... and i still believe there is a chance we can rescue these men and women... secondly, Ralph JewHater Nader is LEBANESE!! he is a fucking sand nigger!!! Read THIS for proof... we're gonna kill each and every one of these sand niggers for this horrific act... this means you Ralph! You racist, nazi sand nigger!!
Get that rats nest off your head, you numbskull -- Wesley Willis
that was about fucking bizarre
I'd think, in space and such, with a proper insulative suit, the problem isn't generating heat, because the human body does that okay... it's shedding excess heat!
The human body, unfortunately, doesn't cool down by radiating in the IR range; it cools down via evaporation of sweat.
So in a skintight suit, the sweat would pool and collect into a thin puddle under the suit and heat would start to build up pretty quickly, I think.
I have no idea how the Dune stillsuits conquered that problem...
GPL Deconstructed
Where are you going to find flecks of paint traveling 20kmph on the surface of Mars?
I would have to hazard the existence of an EVA suit and a ''Planetary Descent Hazard' suit. At least it'd be something more comfortable and utilitarian than the short if cute yeoman's miniskirts in Star Trek.
GPL Deconstructed
I still don't think it was ever discussed how they shed heat in a stillsuit, especially if they recycled and collected all the sweat... no evaporation means no heat loss, right?
GPL Deconstructed
Yeah, but what proof do I have that you exist? I think _you_ are the hoax.
P.S. You can't quote "I think therefore I am" as an argument. You aren't demonstrating anthing remotely like thought.
I piss on Mecca. I wipe my ass with the Koran. I spit upon Mohammed.
"Of all the facts in the article, the one I found most interesting is that the current EVA (Extra Vehicular Activity) suit is an astonishing 24 years old"
Yeah. I wish I had some beta XP style suit with many new features so that I could die in cold space all alone.
What damn reason do we need new space suits for. The arguments here sound cosmetic. The object of wearing a space suit is to keep alive and do work in the worst environment ever known to man.
And if you want a skin tight suit that will withstand a crack from a washer going 20,000 miles an hour forget it. The heat dissapation alone would vaporize a human.
It is arrogant for a bunch of computer jocks to think you could engineer everthing much better than it is now. I understand it, I even hope our generation whips some serious smack down on the engineering world. But, there are people who DO this.
AS if computers run for shit now as it is. They have a hell of long road before they are another ma bell or eiffel tower or autobahn or municipal electric service or even cable tv.
Go back to work on computers, at least then you stand a shot at changing the world for the better.
Seems very mad to me. The problem with the journey to Mars is a human problem. There should be no issue with sending a continual supply of food and materials. Leave them in orbit round mars till needed. Then either dock with the mother ship when it arrives or drop through the atmosphere for delivery on planet as needed.
Deleted
She comes in colours.
This comment is not lame. I promise. Maybe.
Bitchslapped. Neat.
I don't know that much about Mars atmosphere, pressure, and so on, so this might be a silly question, but...
Do they need suits at all? Is running around the surface of Mars that much different than being halfway up Mt Everest? If it's too cold for extended trips, then a suit would be great, but if it's warm enough to go outside for a while, imagine how an astronaut would feel with the wind against his/her bare skin - knowing that it's the wind of a different planet...
Last post!
What we have here is someone new to trolling. See how lame a comment he makes? Now, he'll crawl back into his hole and think about this for a while before emerging and trying again elsewhere.
This has been brought to you by Mutual of Omaha's Wild Troll Kingdom.
-- www.globaltics.net
Political discussion for a new world
Did the moderator even LOOK at the story before slamming this to -1?
i'm willing to bet that choice phrases like "What about suits for Dickless Wonders" and "What about space suits for the penis challenged" were among the reasons for the post's demise.
irb(main):001:0>
Menstration is not really a problem. If needed, there are drugs available that will all but halt the menstration process. Also, although they make up a relatively small percentage of EVAs, women hold some of the longest duration space walks ever. And we aren't talking about just floating in space, we are talking about rigorous work such as assembling parts of the ISS. The reasoning behind this has generally been that women have a lower repseratory rate than most men, and are typically smaller, which gives them a center of mass more suitable for work in a weightless environment.
Of course, the disadvantage of this is that the suits have to be that much smaller, and currently there is an awefull lot packed into each suit. It used to be that each suit was designed for an individual. Now they come in sizes. Currently work is being done on an extra small suit, with the target astronaut being Japanees females.
the one I found most interesting is that the current EVA (Extra Vehicular Activity) suit is an astonishing 24 years old
On the other hand, nobody has died or been injured in the last 24 years because of their suit. There's something to be said for that kind of reliability.
Do you have ESP?
Why can't they just use those metal and leather thongs with the metal bras and fur trim and big ass spears, spike heel thigh high boots. The men can dress like gladiators. At least that's how it is in the movies.
Don't knock retrograde ejaculation until you try it.
But seriously, you wonder why your post was moderated as offtopic? You could have summed up 3/4 of it with - "Current spacesuits were designed without proper consideration of the female anatomy." Instead you ramble on about "bulbous muscular clumps" and whatnot for nearly 10 paragraphs.
As usual, it's not NASA that is doing the major research in this area, it's private companies. Same as the research being done at Devon Island, etc. NASA has no intrest in sending humans to Mars any time soon. It will be private companies, or orginizaions like the Mars Society that will send humans to Mars, not NASA.
(The Mars society actually has a cool new project underway, they are planning to launch some mice into orbit & simulate Mars gravity, so they can test the effects on mammals, & their offspring. Slightly more important and practical research than most of what NASA is doing)
The (Hopefully) Great Slashdot Blackout Apr 21-27
Notice the molding on the "H-Suit" worn by the male model. Will the female version have a bust molded into it, and be missing that raised portion on the cod-piece?
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
Specifically, see this link for an explanation of the "SAFER" system - basically, nitrogen jets.
. ht ml
http://www.sciam.com/2000/0600issue/0600working
testing my posting abilities...
The real question is will the H-suit be hacked and get all the porn channels??
They make retinal displays.
http://www.mvis.com/retscandisp.htm
Good stuff. The cell phone gizmo is at the bottom, that's your PDA.
Full Disclosure: I've lost a good deal of money on their stock.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
Oh, and maybe name every astronaut "Gordon Freeman" :P
We really do need new space suits for the ISS. I suspect that they primarily got hit with budget cutting to reduce the cost of the station to something that won't cause it to be canned for being too expensive.
The main annoyance with the current suits is that they operate at pure oxygen at a reduced pressure. This can very easily cause "The Bends", so you need to have an overnight pre-breathe.
Jerry Pournelle argues that we need a zero-pre-breathe suit that is easy to deal with. Why? Because that way, you could assemble structures in space. For the long truss structure for the ISS, we are sending up integrated chunks. If EVA planning was easier and we send up ironworkers instead of scientists, we could send up components of a space structure in any booster, large or small, and assemble them into a completed structure. This makes more sense when you consider that it is far easier to create a reusable launch vehicle that has a quarter of the cargo-carying capacity of the shuttle than one that has the cargo-carying capacity of the shuttle.
It's also good because you can have your final product as lightly constructed as a butterfly.
I only half agree with Jerry Pournelle, instead figuring that what we need more is a large inflatable hangar. That way, you don't need to deal with your parts floating into orbit and becomming part of the space debris problem, you don't need any sort of space suit, and you don't need to deal with maintaining the space suits.
I really would love it if somebody could reference some real research about skintight spacesuits for my reference files. I mean, if we ever want more people in space, an inexpensive skintight spacesuit would be great so that every room could have a few ready in case of depresurization.
Gentoo Sucks
The flexibility (ability of a suited astronaut to move without restriction) is of vital importance to any space endeavor. Just ask any of the spacewalkers from the apollo testing program. A vast majority of energy expended in space is due to the inability to hold positions other than "normal" (pressurized shape of the suit.) In one of Cernan's first spacewalks, the primary mission was scrubbed because he fatigued too rapidly. Overheating and exhaustion are the primary dangers. Cernan had so much difficulty getting back into the capsule in a pressurized suit that he went through almost bone breaking contortions to squeeze into the pilots chair enough to close the hatch. The first Societ spacewalker had to depressurize his suit to operate the airlock system. Don't get me wrong, suits have gotten better, but until we have a suit that can allow full freedom of motion with almost zero strength needed to hold position, we will be severely limited in our space construction abilities.