This unique and historic document provides extraordinary detail about the Space Shuttle's extravehicular mobility unit (EMU). The official NASA astronaut training manuals comprised a major part of the formal flight crew training process, and were used by flight controllers as well. These internal NASA manuals were produced by the Mission Operations Directorate (Space Flight Training Division branch) at NASA's Johnson Space Center. The manuals and workbooks are extremely detailed and comprehensive, and are designed for self-study. A full listing of all acronyms and abbreviations used in the text is included. They provide a superb way to learn about Shuttle systems, hardware, and operational procedures. Special emphasis on crew interaction with the displays, controls, and hardware is included.

The extravehicular mobility unit (EMU) is an independent anthropomorphic system that provides environmental protection, mobility, life support, and communications for the Space Shuttle crewmember to perform extravehicular activity (EVA) in Earth orbit. An EVA is defined, for EMU design considerations, as any time the EMU external environmental pressure is below 4.0 psia.
The EMU is designed to accommodate an EVA mission with the following characteristics:
• Total duration of 7 hours maximum, consisting of 15 minutes for egress, 6 hours for useful EVA tasks, 15 minutes for ingress, and a 30 minutes reserve.
• An average metabolic rate not exceeding 1600 Btu/hour in any given EVA hour and not exceeding 1000 Btu/hour for the entire duration.
• A peak metabolic rate not exceeding 2000 Btu/hour for a period of 15 min.
• A minimum metabolic rate not less than 400 Btu/hour for a period of 30 min.
The EMU is an integrated assembly, primarily made up of the space suit assembly (SSA), life support system (LSS), and numerous items of associated support and ancillary equipment.
The space suit assembly consists of the following:
• Hard upper torso (HUT)/arms - The portion of the actual pressure suit above the waist, excluding the gloves and helmet.
• Lower torso assembly (LTA) - The portion of the pressure suit below the waist, including the boots.
• Extravehicular (EV) gloves - The anthropomorphic hand protection of the pressure suit.
• Helmet/extravehicular visor assembly (EVVA) - The portion of the pressure suit providing pressurization for the head as well as impact, glare, and thermal protection.
• Liquid cooling and ventilation garment (LCVG) - A garment worn under the pressure suit with sewn-in tubes to provide circulation of cooling water and for pickup of vent flow at the extremities.