The more I dig into the Atompunk side of things, the more wonderful tech-gems pop up. I had no idea what a treasure trove of the weird and wonderful hides in the Atompunk timeframe.
During the height of the space race, both the Soviet Union and the United States used massive amounts of resources to get and stay ahead and obviously pursued various avenues to reach certain goals. These goals included: Give our astronauts/cosmonauts good suits while in space and give them something to walk around in while on the moon.
Which brings me to the wo suits I would like to introduce to you:
The Grumman Moon Suit
This beautiful piece of tech was designed by Grumman in the early 1960′s and became a favourite of Life magazine. It was intended for use during longer excursions on the surface of he moon, possibly in connection with a moon base.The cylindrical main body of the suit was fully pressurized and would have provided the occupant with a comfortable atmosphere to work in.
The Soviets also developed at least one suit for operation on the moon. There could be more but this is the only one I could find in all haste:
The Krechet-94
Krechet-94, photo © Tyrol5
A good deal more conservative than the Grumman Moon Suit, the Krechet-94 was the Soviet equivalent to the famous Apollo/Skylab A7L, the NASA moon suit. It was designed for the Soviet manned lunar program, but after this was abandoned, the Krechet-94 was never used.
Too bad the Soviets did not continue their manned lunar program after Michael Collins, Neil Armstrong, and Buzz Aldrin got there first. It would still have been glorious!