Preliminary Results of Test Flight to 17,000 Feet

The 02 August 2014 test flight to 17,000 feet went flawlessly. The pressure suit (a) held pressure, (b) delivered breathing gas, (c) exhausted my exhaled carbon dioxide, (d) regulated my temperature with coolant flow, and (e) allowed enough mobility with the new convolute elbows that I could do the work I needed to do. Last year this time we were in an altitude chamber in Copenhagen, at a simulated altitude of 13,000 feet, where the function of the pressure suit gave my body a perceived altitude of only 8,500 feet. This time, we were at a real altitude of 17,000 feet, where the function of the pressure suit gave my body a perceived altitude of only 11,200 feet. All of this was a result of great work by the Pacific Spaceflight team in building the various systems, developing good procedures and checklists, and multiple test flight simulations that further refined our procedures. Could not have gone better! A transcript of the test flight, with some of my comments and reports, is shown in the two figures above. We also have data from the freezer and underwater tests, all of which I am writing up now as a technical brief. — Regards CMS