I don't really get the appeal of Superman so I'm not sure I'll ever get round to watching this. Please share your own thoughts on the film and the suits in the comments section below, you lovely people.
Man of steel wasnt too bad all in all,altho I do wish they had stuck with the original chris foss designed look of krypton as that was something that we saw repeated even in the tv show smallville and in the failed reboot,which I quite liked by the way,superman returns.I did quite like michael shannon as zod as he reminded me a bit of terrence stamps zod only a lot more buff,I was also quite surprised to see kevin costner as pa kent and russel crow did a pretty good job as jor-el,altho I dont think anyones ever going to top brandos original,altho turkish marlon brandos jor-el with his missing teeth does come close I must admit.The superman film I really would`ve liked to see would`ve been tim burtons aborted superman project starring nick cage as a depressed long haired superman.
One of the suits I`ve long thought was sadly missing on this site was the russian orlan eva suit,but unfortunately unlike its apollo counterpart it never starred in any movies or television shows...until now that is,theres a brand new russian tv drama[?] called komanda-b [Команда "Б"],its filmed at star city in moscow and we get to see the actors in the orlan in the neutral buoyancy tank doing eva training in one episode[#4?],great stuff,anyway heres the link [no subtitles sadly] https://ok.ru/video/521383840297 http://w7.otel-eleon.xyz/serial-komanda-b/komanda-b-4-seriya.html
And look what I found on ebay, a krechet lunar eva suit!!,for only 45,000usd,oh god if only I had that sort of spare cash laying around I`d buy it in an instant https://www.ebay.ie/itm/Original-Soviet-RUSSIAN-EVA-SPACESUIT-KRECHET-SPACE-ULTRA-RARE-1960s/122684667021?hash=item1c9093748d:g:2cMAAOSwMVdYGWMN And check out the rest on offer https://www.ebay.ie/sch/i.html?_pgn=1&LH_PrefLoc=2&_sop=3&isRefine=false&_nkw=space%20suit
Apologies for going off subject, but it looks like the iconic "Men Into Space" helmet is actually a near-perfect reproduction of the US Air Force MA-3 helmet, here in an exhibit in the National Museum of the United States Air Force.
There were at least two different versions of the MA-3, which was used in the X-15 and in experiments with high-altitude parachute jumps.
I`ve wondered about this myself,are they replicas or surplus military helmets?.If they are replicas then they are exceptionally good ones,however I think it could be just as possible that they are ex military,for instance we see a very similar looking helmet turn up on the outer limits episode the premonition,however it is not identical and strangely it is never seen again in any production,to the best of my knowledge anyway,which is odd considering how often this stuff got reused,when I did some research I found that it was an mc-2 full pressure helmet or a perfect replica.The precedent for ex-military certainly exists in quite a few movies and television shows,probably the best example would be the ex-soviet gsh6 which shows up in productions on both sides of the former iron curtain altho to my mind one of the most impresive examples of this would be thesive examples of this would be the 1984 soviet moon rainbow/lunnaya raduga wich has no less than 5 yastreb/berkut space suit helmets in one scene alone,starring along side god knows how many prop helmets in a scene that could be considered the ussrs equivalent of the suiting up room scene in outland.Another one would have to be the six million dollar man which featured at various times both prop and actual nasa suits tho sadly not together in the same episode.I found this very interesting site which features a lot of pics and info on various pressure helmets,check it out. http://www.salimbeti.com/aviation/helmets10.htm
Oh before I forget heres one for you Steve,I discovered this on youtube its a 1999 tv film entitled Escape from mars,I havent watched the whole thing but you can see the suits almost right at the beginning https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIfaEXBqu6Q
I would look under the helmet's "chin." The one on display at NMUSAF has some obvious connection plugs which do not appear on any picture of the Men Into Space helmet I have seen.
Yes you might very well be right,altho some of the versions used for the first x15 flights in 1959 dont appear to have the under chin plugs unlike the kittenger helmet from 14 months later but instead has a small fitting in the side of the chin,another difference is that at least one version of the early x15 helmet has a rubber oxygen mask and a large chin mounted visor lock fitted.One possible reason for the differing features could be because different services/agencies pilots flew the x15 and might have had slightly different flight gear configurations,its certainly a puzzle.Another little feature that appears to be absent on the mits helmet is what looks like,on some versions anyway,2 possibly spring loaded ball bearing locking or retaining tabs for the visor,the top one is on the front of the small raised area on the forehead of the helmet and the other is mounted on the chin. If they are replicas,and that does seem very possible considering some of the missing features,then they are still amazingly good ones,perhaps a molding taken from a donated original?,one other possibility is that they could be manufacturing rejects that have failed quality control at the factory and that would explain both the apparent accuracy of the appearance and the lack of additional fittings,in fact I`m almost convinced thats what the outer limits mc-2 could be as it has the manufacturers logo on the bottom of the visor. Heres a link to a good pic [its the 1st at the top of the page] of an ma-2 being worn by an f104 pilot you can see the retaining tab features I mentioned. https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/tag/f-104a-15-lo/
Good catch! I think the helmet worn by Captain Kincheloe in your URL is an MA-3; the MA-2, at least shown here
http://www.salimbeti.com/aviation/helmets10.htm
looks quite different.
The helmet work by Captain Kincheloe does seem to have some connectors on the "chin" area, similar to the ones in the NMUSAF display. They're a bit difficult to see, however, and they'd be concealed if the helmet tilts down slightly. And of course the number of connectors and their arrangement would tend to vary a bit.
The MA-3s used early on in the X-15 had, as you pointed out, a rubber oxygen mask worn "behind" the visor. The reason seems to be that the X-15 cockpit was pressurized with nitrogen to act as a flame retardant. With the oxygen mask, the pilot could open the visor and (e.g.) scratch their forehead in the nitrogen atmosphere.
And yeah; at this point it's impossible to say for sure if the service MA-3 always had plugs under the chin, or if the MITS prop helmets were surplus or factory seconds. It is true that real pressure suits were used in the first episode; pictured on display at the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola here:
I read your blog and found a old magazine on archive.org that you might like. The name is Spacemen and the first issue came in july 1961. Hope you like the magazine.
First issue: https://archive.org/details/Spaceman_01_July_1961
All available: https://archive.org/search.php?query=spacemen&and[]=collection%3A%22pulpmagazinearchive%22
Thats an interesting find,I`ve already found in the first few pgs 2 films I didnt know of: April 1 2000 This was made in austria back in 1952 and features a world government calling themselves the global union ruling over europe/the world and we get to see their world police enforcers in their michelin man type spacesuits/battlearmor emerging from flying saucer type craft,supposedly its a musical comedy! https://scifist.wordpress.com/2015/12/13/april-1-2000/ https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/6iWvWTz0uMFsY673CB4H9w1NOo4.jpg https://scifist.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/1952-april-1-2000-001.jpg Theres also on pg4 a lost film with a single still of a spacesuited man from 1934 called cataclysm set in 1975 which a future issue promises to show stills from,now that I would like to see,good stuff.
Man of steel wasnt too bad all in all,altho I do wish they had stuck with the original chris foss designed look of krypton as that was something that we saw repeated even in the tv show smallville and in the failed reboot,which I quite liked by the way,superman returns.I did quite like michael shannon as zod as he reminded me a bit of terrence stamps zod only a lot more buff,I was also quite surprised to see kevin costner as pa kent and russel crow did a pretty good job as jor-el,altho I dont think anyones ever going to top brandos original,altho turkish marlon brandos jor-el with his missing teeth does come close I must admit.The superman film I really would`ve liked to see would`ve been tim burtons aborted superman project starring nick cage as a depressed long haired superman.
ReplyDeleteOne of the suits I`ve long thought was sadly missing on this site was the russian orlan eva suit,but unfortunately unlike its apollo counterpart it never starred in any movies or television shows...until now that is,theres a brand new russian tv drama[?] called komanda-b [Команда "Б"],its filmed at star city in moscow and we get to see the actors in the orlan in the neutral buoyancy tank doing eva training in one episode[#4?],great stuff,anyway heres the link [no subtitles sadly]
https://ok.ru/video/521383840297
http://w7.otel-eleon.xyz/serial-komanda-b/komanda-b-4-seriya.html
And look what I found on ebay, a krechet lunar eva suit!!,for only 45,000usd,oh god if only I had that sort of spare cash laying around I`d buy it in an instant
https://www.ebay.ie/itm/Original-Soviet-RUSSIAN-EVA-SPACESUIT-KRECHET-SPACE-ULTRA-RARE-1960s/122684667021?hash=item1c9093748d:g:2cMAAOSwMVdYGWMN
And check out the rest on offer
https://www.ebay.ie/sch/i.html?_pgn=1&LH_PrefLoc=2&_sop=3&isRefine=false&_nkw=space%20suit
cheers for your superman thoughts Tim, very welcome. I look up the Russian space suit above on another night...bit late now and off to bed
DeleteApologies for going off subject, but it looks like the iconic "Men Into Space" helmet is actually a near-perfect reproduction of the US Air Force MA-3 helmet, here in an exhibit in the National Museum of the United States Air Force.
ReplyDeleteThere were at least two different versions of the MA-3, which was used in the X-15 and in experiments with high-altitude parachute jumps.
https://photos.smugmug.com/By-Year/2018/i-txSTj5R/0/dc66ca4f/M/20180408%20140804-M.jpg
I`ve wondered about this myself,are they replicas or surplus military helmets?.If they are replicas then they are exceptionally good ones,however I think it could be just as possible that they are ex military,for instance we see a very similar looking helmet turn up on the outer limits episode the premonition,however it is not identical and strangely it is never seen again in any production,to the best of my knowledge anyway,which is odd considering how often this stuff got reused,when I did some research I found that it was an mc-2 full pressure helmet or a perfect replica.The precedent for ex-military certainly exists in quite a few movies and television shows,probably the best example would be the ex-soviet gsh6 which shows up in productions on both sides of the former iron curtain altho to my mind one of the most impresive examples of this would be thesive examples of this would be the 1984 soviet moon rainbow/lunnaya raduga wich has no less than 5 yastreb/berkut space suit helmets in one scene alone,starring along side god knows how many prop helmets in a scene that could be considered the ussrs equivalent of the suiting up room scene in outland.Another one would have to be the six million dollar man which featured at various times both prop and actual nasa suits tho sadly not together in the same episode.I found this very interesting site which features a lot of pics and info on various pressure helmets,check it out.
Deletehttp://www.salimbeti.com/aviation/helmets10.htm
Oh before I forget heres one for you Steve,I discovered this on youtube its a 1999 tv film entitled Escape from mars,I havent watched the whole thing but you can see the suits almost right at the beginning
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIfaEXBqu6Q
I would look under the helmet's "chin." The one on display at NMUSAF has some obvious connection plugs which do not appear on any picture of the Men Into Space helmet I have seen.
DeleteYes you might very well be right,altho some of the versions used for the first x15 flights in 1959 dont appear to have the under chin plugs unlike the kittenger helmet from 14 months later but instead has a small fitting in the side of the chin,another difference is that at least one version of the early x15 helmet has a rubber oxygen mask and a large chin mounted visor lock fitted.One possible reason for the differing features could be because different services/agencies pilots flew the x15 and might have had slightly different flight gear configurations,its certainly a puzzle.Another little feature that appears to be absent on the mits helmet is what looks like,on some versions anyway,2 possibly spring loaded ball bearing locking or retaining tabs for the visor,the top one is on the front of the small raised area on the forehead of the helmet and the other is mounted on the chin.
DeleteIf they are replicas,and that does seem very possible considering some of the missing features,then they are still amazingly good ones,perhaps a molding taken from a donated original?,one other possibility is that they could be manufacturing rejects that have failed quality control at the factory and that would explain both the apparent accuracy of the appearance and the lack of additional fittings,in fact I`m almost convinced thats what the outer limits mc-2 could be as it has the manufacturers logo on the bottom of the visor.
Heres a link to a good pic [its the 1st at the top of the page] of an ma-2 being worn by an f104 pilot you can see the retaining tab features I mentioned.
https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/tag/f-104a-15-lo/
Good catch! I think the helmet worn by Captain Kincheloe in your URL is an MA-3; the MA-2, at least shown here
Deletehttp://www.salimbeti.com/aviation/helmets10.htm
looks quite different.
The helmet work by Captain Kincheloe does seem to have some connectors on the "chin" area, similar to the ones in the NMUSAF display. They're a bit difficult to see, however, and they'd be concealed if the helmet tilts down slightly. And of course the number of connectors and their arrangement would tend to vary a bit.
The MA-3s used early on in the X-15 had, as you pointed out, a rubber oxygen mask worn "behind" the visor. The reason seems to be that the X-15 cockpit was pressurized with nitrogen to act as a flame retardant. With the oxygen mask, the pilot could open the visor and (e.g.) scratch their forehead in the nitrogen atmosphere.
And yeah; at this point it's impossible to say for sure if the service MA-3 always had plugs under the chin, or if the MITS prop helmets were surplus or factory seconds. It is true that real pressure suits were used in the first episode; pictured on display at the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola here:
https://photos.smugmug.com/Places/North-America/Florida/i-FxGgR3M/0/17320839/L/20160319%20125044-L.jpg
Hello Steve!
ReplyDeleteI read your blog and found a old magazine on archive.org that you might like. The name is Spacemen and the first issue came in july 1961.
Hope you like the magazine.
First issue: https://archive.org/details/Spaceman_01_July_1961
All available: https://archive.org/search.php?query=spacemen&and[]=collection%3A%22pulpmagazinearchive%22
Cheers!
Thats an interesting find,I`ve already found in the first few pgs 2 films I didnt know of:
DeleteApril 1 2000
This was made in austria back in 1952 and features a world government calling themselves the global union ruling over europe/the world and we get to see their world police enforcers in their michelin man type spacesuits/battlearmor emerging from flying saucer type craft,supposedly its a musical comedy!
https://scifist.wordpress.com/2015/12/13/april-1-2000/
https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/6iWvWTz0uMFsY673CB4H9w1NOo4.jpg
https://scifist.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/1952-april-1-2000-001.jpg
Theres also on pg4 a lost film with a single still of a spacesuited man from 1934 called cataclysm set in 1975 which a future issue promises to show stills from,now that I would like to see,good stuff.
Cheers Fredde. Been away from the blog for a few weeks due to work commitments but I'll investigate that link. sounds interesting.
Delete