Hamilton Sundstrand’s space suits, formally known as extra-vehicular mobility units, will be used in three space walks over the 14-day flight of the current NASA shuttle mission, according to a statement from Allen Flynt, general manager of Hamilton’s energy, space, and defense operations.
The space walks will focus on installing the final set of solar wings and truss elements needed to complete the International Space Station’s electricity generating system, Flynt said.
The Hamilton space suit will also be used to perform other maintenance tasks, he said.
The completed solar panels will generate about 80 kilowatts of electricity, which is enough to power 30 average-sized homes, according to Flynt. The arrays are part of a larger electrical distribution system designed and built by Hamilton Sundstrand’s Rocketdyne division.
Hamilton provides a variety of power and environmental control systems for the International Space Station, space shuttle, and the Orion crew exploration vehicle now under development. It has been the prime contractor to NASA for the space suit since the shuttle era began in 1981.
In December, a space suit competition between Hamilton and a Texas rival ended in a decision to work together on the program.
Hamilton has teamed up with Oceaneering International.
Until the settlement, Hamilton and Oceaneering had been involved in a bidding struggle over the next-generation spacesuit contract from NASA, which announced in June 2008 that the contract — worth $745 million — had been awarded to Oceaneering.
Hamilton subsequently filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office, and NASA later said it would give Hamilton a second shot at the contract, requesting revised proposals from both competitors.
The two sides ended the tug-of-war in December with a work-sharing agreement.
Hamilton and its partnership with Delaware-based ILC Dover — known as Exploration Systems & Technology — have made all of NASA’s space suits since the U.S. space program’s earliest days in the 1960s.
Oceaneering’s Space Systems division is involved in training astronauts for space walks and makes equipment including robotic systems and heat protection products used in the space program.
NASA’s next-generation spacesuit will be used by astronauts during Constellation Program voyages to the International Space Station and, by 2020, back to the moon.
The space suits will support astronauts aboard the Orion crew exploration vehicle, the Altair lunar lander, and during exploration of the surface of the moon.
