Crew Lock Bag
This bag was completed during my soft goods internship at Johnson Space Center. It is is a modified replica of a Crew Lock Bag (CLB), a container that astronauts use to carry tools during Extravehicular Activity (EVA), or “space walks.” I interpreted technical drawings of the original CLB design and modified the pattern to shorten the construction time.
This bag was constructed to be a part of a spacesuit display for the US embassy in Moscow, Russia. It contains replica tools that are suspended to imitate microgravity, and it is attached to the suit using two tethers. I worked with another intern, Jason Chang (RISD 2020) to fabricate the bag, suspension wires, and tether covers, copying existing spaceflight hardware to ensure that the display looked as accurate as possible.
The exterior bag is made of Nomex, a fire-retardant aramid fiber, with panel stiffeners made of woven glass. We constructed 3 separate bags before arriving at the final CLB, using our first two attempts to practice construction techniques and modify the pattern. This project took 4 weeks to complete, and the entire spacesuit will be on display in Moscow soon.
