U.S. Spacesuit Knowledge Capture – A Decade of Archiving

As NASA prepares to send astronauts to Mars, the NASA U.S. Spacesuit Knowledge Capture (SKC) Program is ready to assist the spacesuit community by collecting and preserving spacesuit-related knowledge. This has been the SKC Program’s objective over the last decade, from its 2007 inception. The SKC Program’s archival collection includes significant spacesuit-related knowledge, which it shares with numerous technical staff, along with invested and interested entities. Various JSC organizations, along with the NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC), enable the success of the SKC Program. The program has sponsored and recorded over 85 events, and continues to increase its electronic library of spacesuit knowledge. By the end of Fiscal Year 2017, 76 of these events were publically available via the NASA NESC Web site. At this site, viewers have access to a decade of general lectures, technical courses, and vignettes on spacesuits and ancillary material. Publically sharing this knowledge offers an opportunity for space partners, academia, and others to expand their knowledge. The SKC Program archives represent a decade of spacesuit legacy from the Apollo era to the pursuit of Mars, and beyond. This paper culminates years of work and discusses the past, present, and future endeavors of the SKC program.