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These suits were meant for pilots flying higher than oxygen could support them, so they needed to get breathable air to the pilots.
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Three businesses--David Clark Company, International Latex Corporation, and the B. F. Goodrich Company--competed to design the best suit design for evaluation and tests.
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With the Mercury space suit, the Goodrich Company won the competition, updating the Navy's pressure suits to handle space. These were not meant for mobility or spacewalking; their pruprose was to be a backup if the cabin lost pressure (which never happened).
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This space suit had to be mobile enough for men to walk across the moon, bend over, pick things up, and protect them from jagged rocks and the blazing lunar day.
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For the Gemini launching, more mobile space suits were offered and used.
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The skylab space suits were cheaper to make and more lightweight.
