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Switzerland: Schoeller Textiles Go To Space On May 28

Project "Spacetex" is testing Swiss functional textiles in outer space

On May 28, 2014, the German ESA astronaut Dr. Alexander Gerst took off from the cosmodrome in Baikonur/ Kazakhstan, bound for the International Space Station (ISS). With him on board are functional textiles from the Swiss fabric producer Schoeller Textil AG. During the six-month mission of the "Spacetex" project the first clothing physiology experiments will be carried out in a weightless environment. It is anticipated that new light will be shed on the interaction between body, clothing and climate.

Tests under extreme conditions

The "Spacetex" research partners from the Hohenstein Institute (Bönnigheim - Germany), Schoeller Textil AG (Sevelen - Switzerland), Charité (Berlin - Germany) and DLR (Bonn/Bremen - Germany) are expecting unique results from the joint undertaking. The data obtained may help optimise astronauts' clothing for future space voyages and long-term missions such as the approximately three-year voyage to Mars that is planned for 2030.In addition to their potential use in space, space-proven textiles are also of great interest when developing textiles for extreme conditions here on Earth. For Hans-Jürgen Hübner, Schoeller Textil AG, this is an important reason why the textile manufacturer is involved in this industry-funded research project, "We will feed the findings from the "Spacetex" project into our product development & optimisation work. Future astronauts will benefit from this work. We'll also make sure that people here on Earth who push the limits of their physical endurance or have to deliver peak performance in extreme conditions benefit as well."