# Astronauts headgear

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astronauts-headgear/764770>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 2, 2016, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astronauts-headgear/764770 "2016-09-02T12:54:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![A\_Dodgy\_Dude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a87d85/32.png) [@A\_Dodgy\_Dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_Dodgy_Dude)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2016, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astronauts-headgear/764770/1 "2016-09-02T12:54:54Z")

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Why do astronauts were those caps under their helmets?

You know the ones I mean? Black on the sides, a wide white stripe across the top going from front to back?

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**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2016, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astronauts-headgear/764770/2 "2016-09-02T13:05:23Z")

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> **[Space suit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_suit)**
>
> A space suit (or spacesuit) is an environmental suit used for protection from the harsh environment of outer space, mainly from its vacuum as a highly specialized pressure suit, but also its temperature extremes, as well as radiation and micrometeoroids. Basic space suits are worn as a safety precaution inside spacecrafts in case of loss of cabin pressure. For extravehicular activity (EVA) more complex space suits are worn, featuring a portable life support system.
> Pressure suits are in gener...

> [@](#):
>
> In NASA space suits, communications are provided via a cap worn over the head, which includes earphones and a microphone. Due to the coloration of the version used for Apollo and Skylab, which resembled the coloration of the comic strip character Snoopy, these caps became known as “Snoopy caps.”

> **[Outside the Spacecraft](https://airandspace.si.edu/exhibition/outside-spacecraft/index.html)**
>
> Extra-vehicular activity, or EVA-working outside a spacecraft changed the nature of human spaceflight.

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**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2016, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astronauts-headgear/764770/3 "2016-09-02T13:25:08Z")

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If your earphones slip within your helmet you are fucked. If they are attached to a full balaclava-like cap they are much less likely to slip.

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**Author:** ![A\_Dodgy\_Dude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a87d85/32.png) [@A\_Dodgy\_Dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_Dodgy_Dude)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2016, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/astronauts-headgear/764770/4 "2016-09-02T13:25:37Z")

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Thanks, Telemark.

I was watching The Martian last night and Damon pulled one of them off his head like it was an ordinary ski cap.