ORBITAL RADAR

History of Space Suits

Sixty-five years of spacesuit evolution — from the modified Navy pressure suits of Project Mercury to the Prada-designed Axiom AxEMU. A comprehensive timeline of every major suit design, the engineering breakthroughs that defined each era, and the people who built them.

Last updated: 2026-05-25 · Space Library

Years of History

14+

Major Suit Designs

Countries

Complete Timeline

1961

Mercury Suit (Navy Mark IV): Modified high-altitude Navy pressure suit. Not designed for EVA — emergency backup only. Worn by Mercury astronauts including Alan Shepard and John Glenn.

1965

Gemini EVA Suit (G4C): First American suit designed for spacewalks. Ed White performed the first US EVA on Gemini 4 (June 1965). Used chest-pack life support with an umbilical tether.

1965

Berkut (Soviet): Alexei Leonov wore the Berkut suit for humanity's first-ever spacewalk on Voskhod 2 (March 1965). The suit over-inflated, forcing Leonov to bleed pressure to re-enter the airlock.

1969

Apollo A7L: ILC Dover's 21-layer suit carried Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin onto the Moon (Apollo 11). Paired with PLSS backpack for up to 7 hours of lunar surface EVA.

1971

Apollo A7LB: Upgraded for extended J-missions (Apollo 15–17). Added waist joint and improved mobility for longer lunar stays and Lunar Rover operations.

1973

Sokol KV-2: Russian IVA rescue suit introduced after the Soyuz 11 cabin decompression disaster that killed three cosmonauts. Mandatory on all Soyuz flights since.

1977

Orlan-D: First generation of Russia's distinctive rear-entry EVA suit. Used for Salyut station spacewalks. The hatch-in-the-back design allows single-person donning in about 5 minutes.

1981

NASA EMU: The Extravehicular Mobility Unit enters service for the Space Shuttle programme. Modular design, 4.3 psi operating pressure, 6.5–8 hour PLSS. Still in use on ISS in 2026.

2008

Feitian Gen-1: China's first EVA suit, derived from Russian Orlan technology. Zhai Zhigang performs China's first spacewalk during Shenzhou 7.

2020

SpaceX IVA Suit: The sleek black-and-white Crew Dragon flight suit debuts on Demo-2 (Doug Hurley & Bob Behnken). First new American crew suit in decades. 3D-printed helmet.

2021

Feitian Gen-2: China deploys its indigenously designed 2nd-generation EVA suit for Tiangong station construction spacewalks. Significant mobility and endurance improvements.

2024

SpaceX EVA Suit: First commercial spacewalk suit used on Polaris Dawn (September 2024). Umbilical-based life support, HUD visor, spiral zipper entry.

2024

Boeing Starliner Suit: Boeing's blue IVA suit flies with Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams on the first crewed Starliner flight to ISS.

2027

AxEMU: Axiom Space × Prada lunar suit targets first use on Artemis III — the first crewed Moon landing since Apollo 17 in 1972.

Space Suits Hub

All suit profiles and comparison data

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Comparison Table

Every suit side by side with specs

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How Suits Work

Engineering deep-dive

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Space Missions

The missions that shaped suit design

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Frequently Asked Questions

What was the first spacesuit ever used? ▼

The Soviet SK-1 suit worn by Yuri Gagarin on Vostok 1 (12 April 1961) was the first spacesuit used in space. It was a modified high-altitude aviation pressure suit. The first American suit was the Navy Mark IV worn by Alan Shepard on Mercury-Redstone 3 (5 May 1961).

When was the first spacewalk? ▼

The first spacewalk (EVA) was performed by Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov on Voskhod 2 on 18 March 1965, wearing the Berkut EVA suit. The first American EVA followed on 3 June 1965 when Ed White spacewalked from Gemini 4.