LightNews — News, ranked by scholars

China Space Watch

@chinaspace.bsky.social

Wangyu's gloves are flexible and reliable, reflecting the importance of dexterity during lunar work. Apollo's gloves were also engineered for fingertip sensitivity, but pressure, thermal protection and durability inevitably limited dexterity. Later A7LB suits introduced further glove improvements

September 22, 2026 at 10:06 PM

China Space Watch

@chinaspace.bsky.social

Wangyu has joints adapted for low lunar gravity and has been demonstrated performing walking, squatting, bending, kneeling and climbing. Apollo's A7LB introduced improved waist mobility and walking performance, but astronauts still faced substantial restrictions from the pressurised suit and PLSS.

September 22, 2026 at 10:05 PM

China Space Watch

@chinaspace.bsky.social

It's nothing like it at all! China’s Wangyu lunar spacesuit is being developed as a new-generation lunar EVA system. China says its priorities include being lightweight, miniaturised, highly efficient, reliable and safe—a very different starting point from the 1960s-era Apollo A7L/A7LB.

September 22, 2026 at 10:04 PM

Fluffy Cyborg, IInd of the name

@avel.kairos-research.org

Fascinating

thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/the-bra-and-...

A composite of the final delivery drawings produced by ILC from 1970, showing an A7LB suit as worn by an astronaut with gloves and helmet (left), with Thermal Micrometeoroid Garment (TMG) layer (middle), and showing only Pressure Garment Assembly (PGA) (right). Courtesy of ILC Dover, Inc.

As with the larger conflicts surrounding ILC’s procedures, the resolution was a hard-won compromise. For elements toward the outside of the suit, especially in the covering Thermal Micrometeoroid Garment (TMG), changes followed standard systems engineering protocols. A longer zip or a differently shaped piece of Velcro was subject to the same “configuration management” procedures that held sway in any other part of the massive Apollo effort, with up to several changes a day meticulously recorded. Closer to the astronaut’s skin, however, the engineering logic evaporated in favor of a humbler logic of clothing.

While each glove finger, anklet, or undergarment was assigned a tracking serial number, it was also given a size range — from small and medium to large — within which its astronaut-specific dimensions could be specified. Once agreed upon, the only problem came with sizing the most intimate part of the suit assembly, the urinary collection device (UCD) that slid over the astronaut’s penis. After an “incident” with the first astronaut fitted for the device, the UCD’s designations were changed from “Small, Medium, Large” to “Large,” “Extra Large,” and “Extra-Extra Large.”

Whether in the “dipping” of convolutes, the gluing of layers, or the sewing of the final suit, ILC’s process was so dependent on the individual craftsmanship of its employees that attempts to precisely enumerate the procedures used were inherently impossible. As a seamstress later reflected, “No two people sew alike.” While even a change of a 16th of an inch in a formalized sewing procedure had to be debated and recorded on a systems engineering “configuration board,” the procedures documented in paperwork were never precisely the ones used to assemble the suits.

August 11, 2026 at 8:23 PM

Rocketengine

@rocketengine.bsky.social

Model A7LB Extravehicular Mobility Unit
www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum...

May 21, 2026 at 1:34 PM

Del - Martian Observer

@martian-observer.net

How nerd cool is this?

Ryan Nagata modelling his high-fidelity replica of an Apollo A7LB spacesuit in his workshop
A spacesuit has been described as a ‘wearable spacecraft of the smallest possible dimensions’. It has to provide oxygen, get rid of carbon dioxide, regulate extreme temperature fluctuations and protect against the micrometeoroid flux density in the vacuum of space or on the lunar surface. It has to maintain an airtight bubble of atmospheric pressure flexible enough for an astronaut to be mobile, while keeping a constant volume. No easy task
Photograph: Ryan Nagata

Image Alt-text: a photo of a Ryan Nagata stood in a spacesuit in his workshop

April 9, 2026 at 3:47 PM

Spacewomen Graphics

@spacewomengrfx.bsky.social

Apollo IVA helmet and A7Lb neckring. Profile portrait in progress. #spacewomengrfx #spacesuit #pressuresuit #astronaut #womanastronaut #NASA #spaceart #spaceillustration #illustration #vectorart #vectorillustration #graphicdesign #art #宇宙服 #宇宙飛行士 #イラスト #bubblehelmet #pressurehelmet #scienceart

March 1, 2025 at 9:30 AM

Spacewomen Graphics

@spacewomengrfx.bsky.social

Changed the length of the forearm and added wrinkles to the thigh. Details for a portrait of a female astronaut. #spacewomengrfx #spacesuit #pressuresuit #astronaut #womanastronaut #NASA #spaceart #spaceillustration #illustration #vectorart #vectorillustration #graphicdesign #art #宇宙服 #宇宙飛行士 #イラスト

Vector illustration (in progress) of a female astronaut wearing an Apollo A7Lb spacesuit.

February 21, 2025 at 10:09 AM

Spacewomen Graphics

@spacewomengrfx.bsky.social

Torso wrinkles. Details for a portrait of a female astronaut. #spacewomengrfx #spacesuit #pressuresuit #spacewoman #womanastronaut #NASA #spaceart #sciart #spaceillustration #illustration #vectorart #vectorillustration #graphicdesign #宇宙服 #宇宙飛行士 #イラスト #art

Vector illustration of torso wrinkles on an Apollo A7Lb spacesuit. Details for a portrait of a female astronaut.

February 13, 2025 at 12:57 PM

Spacewomen Graphics

@spacewomengrfx.bsky.social

Yet more right arm light wrinkles. Details for a portrait of a female astronaut. #spacewomengrfx #spacesuit #pressuresuit #womanastronaut #astronaut #NASA #spaceart #spaceillustration #illustration #vectorart #vectorillustration #宇宙服 #宇宙飛行士 #イラスト #graphicdesign #art

Vector illustration of an A7Lb spacesuit showing right sleeve and torso wrinkles.

February 9, 2025 at 7:49 AM

Spacewomen Graphics

@spacewomengrfx.bsky.social

More right arm light wrinkles. Details for a portrait of a female astronaut. #spacewomengrfx #spacesuit #pressuresuit #spacewoman #astronaut #femaleastronaut #womanastronaut #NASA #spaceart #spaceillustration #illustration #vectorart #vectorillustration #graphicdesign #宇宙服 #宇宙飛行士 #イラスト #art

Vector illustration of a woman wearing an Apollo A7Lb spacesuit, in particular the right arm light wrinkles. Details for a portrait of a female astronaut.

February 2, 2025 at 8:22 AM

Spacewomen Graphics

@spacewomengrfx.bsky.social

Right arm and torso an A7Lb suit. Details for a portrait of a female astronaut. #spacewomengrfx #spacewoman #spacesuit #pressuresuit #astronaut #femaleastronaut #womanastronaut #NASA #spaceart #spaceillustration #illustration #vectorart #vectorillustration #graphicdesign #宇宙服 #宇宙飛行士 #イラスト

Vector illustration of the right arm and torso an A7Lb suit. Details for a portrait of a female astronaut.

January 25, 2025 at 4:31 AM

Spacewomen Graphics

@spacewomengrfx.bsky.social

Chest connectors an A7Lb suit. Details for a portrait of a female astronaut. #spacewomengrfx #spacesuit #spacewoman #pressuresuit #astronaut #womanastronaut #femaleastronaut #NASA #spaceart #spaceillustration #illustration #vectorillustration #vectorart #graphicdesign #宇宙服 #宇宙飛行士 #イラスト #art

Vector illustration of the chest connectors on an Apollo A7Lb spacesuit.

January 22, 2025 at 5:40 AM

Space Freak | 🔞 MDNI

@astronaught1.bsky.social

and two more, featuring KupelCopel and @astro-nhr.bsky.social

#furryart #furry #OC #space

Kupel's sona Emily, wore in A7LB without armored addon for the helmet, and Astro-NHR's sona, Astro, wore in the suit based on the design appeared in The Bad Guys 2 teaser, standing side by side

January 21, 2025 at 7:05 AM

Space Freak | 🔞 MDNI

@astronaught1.bsky.social

I wanted to put him in xEMU, initially — as it would be right continuation (A7LB — EMU — xEMU), but there's no clear refs of the recent design, only the blue-red one and the one made by Axiom; so I've put him in Z-1

also, I fucked up the helmet sizes for a bit — hopefully, will fix that one day

January 20, 2025 at 3:00 PM