Why Do Astronauts Wear White Spacesuits in Space?

Traveling to Space has become a common practice among government-owned and commercial space agencies. If you observe most of these space missions, you will notice that most Astronauts travel to space wearing a white suits.

So why do Astronauts mostly wear a white Space Suit to travel to Space, or conduct a spacewalk? You are about to find the needed answers.

What is Spacesuit?

A Space Suit is a unique garment specifically designed to protect Astronauts from the hazardous nature of outer space. It also protects Astronauts from extreme temperatures, vacuums, and harmful radiation in space. So humans need space suits to stay alive in space.

Why Do Astronauts Wear White Spacesuits?

You may be wondering why space agencies like NASA, CNSA, ESA, SpaceX, ROSMOSCOS, and many others prefer to send Astronauts to space with white Spacesuits? Unlike earth, Space does not have a conducive environment for mankind.

Hence, for astronauts to survive in the harmful environment of space, space agencies decided to provide them with white Spacesuits to give them more advantages in space. Space agencies prefer using white Spacesuits because of the following reasons.

1. Reflects incident radiations.

The Earth’s atmosphere protects us from harmful radiations coming from space. However, when Astronauts commence on the journey to the space station, they are no longer protected by Earth’s atmosphere.

Hence, their spacesuits are designed to give them enough protection from radiation and other dangers of space. Unlike black color that absorbs light, white color reflects light and keeps Astronauts safe from incident radiation that comes mostly from the sun.

Indeed white Spacesuits will protect the Astronauts more than any other type of spacesuit. Space agencies realized that the white Spacesuits will help in reflecting much of the incident radiation and keep Astronauts safe. So they adopt the culture of equipping Astronauts traveling to space with white Spacesuits.

2. Make Astronauts Visible in Space.

When Astronauts travel to space stations to conduct research, the need to participate in Extravehicular activities often arises from time to time. During the EVA, Astronauts are expected to leave their cabin dressing in special weight Spacesuits to accomplish this mission.

Keep in mind that space is dark, but not absolutely dark. When Astronauts dress in white Spacesuits for their EVAs, they can easily be seen by their colleagues during the spacewalk. Since space is not absolutely dark, Astronauts can easily see their colleagues while they work outside the space station.

When did Space Agencies begin to Equip Astronauts with White Spacesuits?

We have seen several astronauts travel to space wearing white Spacesuits. Space agencies participating in these missions could have chosen other colors to design their space. But they prefer to use white Spacesuits instead. So is why white spacesuits the best option for these space agencies? To answer this question, we have to travel back in time to when space agencies began to explore space in the mid-20th century.

Before the first man was sent to space, the USSR and NASA participated in several uncrewed space missions with both small and bigger animals to study the impact of exploring space on living organisms. From these studies, they realized that space is extremely harmful and dangerous to living spaces without protective wear.

Hence, before Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin commenced his first journey to space on April 12th, 1961, he was meant to wear a Spacesuit to protect him from space. Even though his spacesuit was designed in Orange color, it still gave him enough protection. But as the first American, Commander Alan Bartlett Shepherd Jr. traveled to space on May 5th, 1961, he wore a Spacesuit with a unique color.

Over time, space agencies began to realize the importance of equipping Astronauts with white spacesuits. So during the historic moon landing in 1969, NASA equipped the first three Astronauts that landed on the moon with white Spacesuits to give them more protection in deep space.

Until this day, space agencies have continued to provide their astronauts with white spacesuits because of their advanced protection in deep space.

Will Other Spacesuits Protect Astronauts in Space?

Aside from white spacesuits, some space agencies like Blue Origin and others prefer to use deep Blue and mustard yellow spacesuits to send Astronauts to space. You may be wondering if these colored Spacesuits will give Astronauts similar protection white Spacesuits give them.

Space agencies have discovered that deep blue, orange, mustard yellow, and other colored Spacesuits can still protect Astronauts as they travel to space. The most important thing is that the Spacesuits must be designed with high-tech features to protect their users from the radiating environment of outer space.

Since numerous space agencies are embracing the space race, we should be expecting varieties of Spacesuit colors to meet this growing demand.

Conclusion

When you next see Astronauts traveling to space in white Spacesuits, I believe that this article must have explained the reason why white spacesuits are commonly used in space exploration.

As we continue to advance technologically, more creative ideas will likely change our spacesuit designs. Do you think that the first Martian Astronauts will reach the planet wearing white Spacesuits?

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