|
 Once again,
leave it to Stanley Kubrick to miss the mark as to how a 21st
century spacesuit would look, yet squarely hit the bull as to how it
should have looked. These little numbers should be in the
wardrobe of anyone planning on conquering the Solar System in style.
Like everything else in 2001: a Space Odyssey,
Kubrick was a stickler for detail and authenticity. If he was
going to have spacesuits in his film they weren't just going to look
good, they were going to be as close as he could get to the space gear
of the next millennium and he'd go as far as to second Harry Lange
from Nasa to design them.
Take a glimpse at the detail on the suits in the
film. The thought that went into them is staggering. Not
only are they suitable for both EVAs and meeting godlike aliens, but
everything has a logic to it from the billow pleats to improve
mobility to the hose couplings to the realistic-looking helmet and
glove seals. In the picture on the left you can see a joystick
for operating the suit's jet pack and on the sleeve are buttons to
polarise the helmet visor and operate other suit functions. If
you look at the red suit above you can see a cluster of jet nozzles
set right where the man's centre of gravity should be and those black
and white rectangles on the back of the elegantly sculpted helmet
aren't for decoration. They're plug-in computer modules so that
the suit can be programmed for specific missions.
When I compare these to the Michelin Man
contraptions Nasa and the Russians use today, I just want to weep.
I'll bet Kubrick's suits didn't ride up in the
crotch either. |
