The Chinese Medicine Spacesuit

Here are some images of a recent photoshoot showcasing the Chinese medicine spacesuit that Dr. Cameron Smith and I worked on, back in 2018, as a proof of concept, for my doctoral capstone presentation. We came up with the idea of incorporating the Anatomy Trains, fascial lines (which some researchers say corresponds closely to the acupuncture meridian channels).

Below is an excerpt from my published thesis, “Classical Chinese Medicine in Space” –

The Coverall layer is that which provides the counter-forces to enable movement and mobility. After contemplating the parallels between the nature of our human body and the different layers of the spacesuit, I was inspired to investigate Thomas W. Myers’s Anatomy Trains. In this ground-breaking book, he described the fascial lines (specific lines of connective tissue structure that follow quite closely the Chinese medicine meridian lines. (see Figure 18) I wondered if integrating these lines can help with the mobility of the suit and discussed this idea with my DIY spacesuit co-fabricator, Dr. Cameron Smith.

Initial ideas of combing the Anatomy Train lines to the spacesuits

We implemented the lines in the next suit we built. These photos (Figure 19) show the internal stress-distribution system that is inspired by looking at the meridian fascial lines in Anatomy Trains. The lines reside between the bladder layer and the coverall layer and helps distribute inflation stress. The blue “x tapes” descend to the foot, rise to the thighs, cross the chest, go over the shoulder and down the back to the “crotch cross”. This has been found to work effectively, transferring stress from one side of the body to the other. It substantially improves the mobility of the suit. The Anatomy Train lines work on the assumption that our human body is a tensegrity structure. This means that it is a self-contained system and efficient at re-distributing forces in microgravity environments.

Figure 19 – Anatomy Trains Lines

This is an example of how looking at spaceflight-related technologies, such as the spacesuit, from the lens of Chinese medicine can be helpful for promoting human health in space.