April 16th 2008
Star City, Russia
SOKOL KV 2 LEAK CHECK...
The Sokol space suit, Russian - C????, Falcon) is a Russian spacesuit we have been fitted for and will be worn by us when we fly on the Soyuz TMA spacecraft.
The current version of the suit is the Sokol-KV2, manufactured by NPP Zvezda (??? ??????.) It consists of an inner pressure layer of rubberised kapron and an outer layer of white nylon canvas. Boots are integrated with the suit but gloves are removable and attach by means of blue anodised aluminium wrist couplings. There is a suit pressure gauge on the left wrist. A mirror on an elastic wrist band is worn on the right—this helps us cosmonauts see things that would otherwise be outside our field of view.
Electrical power and communications cables are mounted on the right abdomen of the suit; on the left abdomen there are separate hoses for air and oxygen. Normally, an electric blower ventilates the suit with cabin air through the larger hose at the rate of 150 litres (5.3 cubic feet) per minute. The Sokol suit uses an open circuit life support system that somewhat resembles scuba equipment.
It was introduced in 1973, and is still used today. Its main purpose is to keep the wearer alive in the event of an accidental depressurisation of the spacecraft. In the photos below, Richard and I have a leak check performed on our Sokol suits. This is to test for any leaks if the Soyuz descent module depressurises. The Sokol becomes our life support system and provides oxygen to us.
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Watch the Space Suit Pressure Test in the Video Gallery.