Injuries to the hands and fingers are commonly reported among astronauts who perform and train for Extravehicular Activities in the Extravehicular Mobility Unit Spacesuit. In an effort to better understand the physical and environmental ergonomic injury risk factors associated with spacesuit glove use, a custom built carrier glove with multiple integrated sensors was developed to be worn within the spacesuit glove with the purpose of measuring the physical and environmental variables acting on the fingers and hand, and the physiological response, within two pressurized glove conditions in a 1G laboratory setting. One male subject performed multiple dynamic and functional tasks in a pressurized EMU. Results indicate that the sensor glove is capable of measuring multiple physical and environmental variables associated the development of finger and hand injuries observed in astronauts.

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In support of the Constellation Space Suit Element [CSSE], a new space-suit architecture will be created for support of Launch, Entry, Abort, Microgravity ExtraVehicular Activity [EVA], and post-landing crew operations, safety and, under emergency conditions, survival. The space suit is unique in comparison to previous launch, entry, and abort [LEA] suit architectures in that it utilizes rigid mobility elements in the scye (i.e., shoulder) and the upper arm regions. The suit architecture also utilizes rigid thigh disconnect elements to create a quick disconnect approximately located above the knee. This feature allows commonality of the lower portion of the suit (from the thigh disconnect down), making the lower legs common across two suit configurations. This suit must interface with the Orion vehicle seat subsystem, which includes seat components, lateral supports, and restraints. Due to the unique configuration of spacesuit mobility elements, combined with the need to provide occupant protection during dynamic vehicle events, risks have been identified with potential injury due to the suit characteristics described above.

Objectives Spacesuits are designed to be reliable personal spacecraft that preserve the life and well-being of the astronaut from the extremes of space. However, materials, operating pressures, and suit design requirements often result in a risk of musculoskeletal discomfort and injury to various areas of the body. In particular, this investigation looked at fingernails and their risk of developing onycholysis. Methods An onycholysis literature review was followed by a retrospective analysis of injury characteristics, astronaut suited training and spaceflight events, hand anthropometry, glove sizing, and astronaut demographics. Multiple logistic regression was used to assess the likelihood of onycholysis occurrence by testing potential risk variables against the dataset compiled from the retrospective data mining. Results The duration of event exposure, type of glove used, distance (delta) between the fingertip and the tip of the glove, sex, and age were found to be significantly related to occurrence of onycholysis (whether protective or injurious). Conclusion An initial risk formula (model) for onycholysis was developed as a result of this investigation. In addition to validation through a future study, further improvement to this onycholysis equation and spacesuit discomfort and injury in general can be aided by future investigations that lead to better definition of the threshold between safe and risky exposure for each type of risk factor. Application This work described a potential method that can be used for EVA spacesuit glove onycholysis injury risk analysis for either iterative glove design or between glove comparisons, such as during a product downselect process.