what do neil armstrong ed white and
today's ISS astronauts have in common
they all wore a white spacesuit and
they're not alone
beyond NASA space programs and countries
like Russia and China also use white
suits not the colors of the Russian flag
or China's iconic yellow and red just
white plain old white that basic color
has saved countless astronaut lives NASA
didn't always have white space suits
their very first manned spaceflight
Project Mercury featured silver suits
but none of those astronauts actually
explored the vacuum of space and that's
the key because out there space suits
have to be highly reflective and the
best color for that isn't silver it's
white white is the color that reflects
back the radiation most effectively
while in outer space here on earth our
atmosphere shields us from 77% of the
sun's radiation but astronauts in space
don't have that natural shield making
them vulnerable to blistering
temperatures severe sunburn and even
cancer causing cell damage so to combat
that they wear white suits that reflect
the sun's harmful radiation it's just
like how painting a wall white keeps the
room cooler than a dark color because
lighter paint absorbs 35% less heat it's
the ideal color to keep the astronauts
safe if you're planning to go out in
outer space that reflective nature is an
absolute but those white EBA suits
aren't the only garment in an astronauts
closet when heading into space are
coming home NASA astronauts wear a
bright orange suit similar in color to
the safety vests Air Force pilots wear
and it's for similar reasons because
that loud orange stands out against the
blue ocean and sky and is perfect for
attracting attention so if there's a
malfunction during landing and
astronauts have to abandon ship so to
speak they
need to be easy to spot for rescue crews
that's why orange was the color of
choice for missions like Russia's Vostok
program as well as current ISS launched
in reentry suits that being said times
are changing
nowadays we have more sophisticated ways
of locating astronauts in need of rescue
like GPS trackers and transponders so
space agencies are now free to get
creative with their color choices NASA
and other programs are already starting
to use other colors like deep blue and
mustard yellow and in the future they
could look a lot different because NASA
is heading to Mars it will be the
longest crewed space mission to date
taking as long as three years from start
to finish and during that time
astronauts could suffer from boredom or
depression that's where colorful
spacesuits could be useful you may want
to have a variation of colors or even
interchangeable cover layers for the
suits just to avoid the trials of an
monotony that's a very deep concern
people are in a very high-stress job who
are in a very small confined space and
it is very monotonous space just imagine
a rainbow spacesuit for a new age of
exploration
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