Fits like a Space Glove

Imagine you’re floating in space, tethered to your spacecraft as you carefully repair an instrument during a routine spacewalk. You’ve been at work for nearly three hours, performing tasks that require incredible mental and physical stamina. To your surprise, your greatest discomfort is in your hands. They ache, the internal pressure of your space gloves making dexterous movement a challenge. Every bend of your finger is a test, as you strain against the stiff material of your gloves.

The solution to your pain? A good pair of space gloves, according to Canadian Space Agency astronaut Chris Hadfield. While hand pain is incredibly common among spacewalkers, having robust gloves, designed for refined hand movements in extreme conditions, serves to reduce the chance of injury.

Thanks to Hadfield, we recently had the opportunity to view a pair of Russian spacewalking gloves up close, and learn about the difficulties of working with your hands in space. Below we’ve shared a taste of our conversation with Hadfield, which was captured in film and will be shown on the ROM’s exclusive video kiosk during the holidays, along with a pair of Russian spacewalking gloves from Hadfield’s collection.

On the variation in space gloves…

“There are basically two types of space gloves – gloves for inside the ship and for outside the ship. Why do you need gloves for inside a ship? Well, it’s because a ship is really just an aluminum balloon, a little bubble of air trapped in the vacuum of space. If your aluminum balloon pops a hole then you’re going to loose pressure and get subjected to the vacuum of space. And so you have to wear a suit that will hold a bubble of air around your body … it’s like an emergency suit.”
 

On the importance of glove fit…

“If the glove is a little bit too tight then it will start to pull on your finger nails.…We’ve had astronauts and cosmonauts outside during a spacewalk … tearing their fingernails off just because of the tight fit of the gloves.”
 

On the adaptability of space gloves…

“A lot of people think space might be hot or space might be cold. In reality it’s kind of both.... Your gloves have to allow you to pickup a hammer that might have been in the sun, +150, or it might have been in the shade, -140, without immediately burning or giving frostbite to your palm.”
 

On the compromises of glove design…

“Think of all the motions that your hands can do – you don’t need a lot of them for tasks outside the spacecraft. Designers optimize the gloves for clenching and unclenching, for being able to use one finger, for being able to pinch something really strong. It’s a compromise between glove design and complexity of construction.”
 

Starting December 26th, a pair of Russian spacewalking gloves from Chris Hadfield’s personal collection will be on display at the ROM. We invite you to explore the ROM for the Holidays schedule for more details about upcoming events and activities.