vacuum suit n.

= space suit n.

  • 1926 G. P. Wertenbaker The Man from the Atom in Amazing Stories Apr. 64/2 page image G. Peyton Wertenbaker bibliography

    The Professor next placed the transparent head gear over my head and secured it with attachments to my vacuum suit.

  • 1930 E. E. Smith Skylark Three in Amazing Stories Sept. 545/1 page image Edward E. Smith bibliography

    As Loring held the steel vessel close to the stranger, DuQuesne donned a vacuum suit and stepped into the airlock.

  • 1930 E. E. Smith Skylark Three in Amazing Stories Sept. 543/2 page image Edward E. Smith bibliography

    They were wearing vacuum suits and were very short and stocky, giving the impression of enormous strength.

  • 1947 R. Abernathy Failure on Titan in Planet Stories Winter 61/1 Robert Abernathy bibliography

    He removed the helmet, set it carelessly on the desk-top, and, turning, began to unzip his vacuum suit.

  • 1948 H. B. Fyfe Bureau of Slick Tricks in Astounding Science Fiction Dec. 76/2 H. B. Fyfe bibliography

    ‘But this gentleman in the rather crude vacuum suit wished to inquire about them.’ He turned to the metallic bulk, which exchanged a series of whistles with him. The alien turned and lumbered away.

  • 1949 H. Kuttner Time Axis in Startling Stories Jan. xiv. 50/1 Henry Kuttner bibliography

    I passed an Exploratory Station and took a minute to go in and grab a vacuum suit. Carrying it, I headed for a gate in the great dome that covered the city.

  • 1955 ‘M. Leinster’ Scrimshaw in Astounding Science Fiction Sept. 131 Murray Leinster bibliography

    There was a warning-bell in the shack, and when a rocketship from Lunar City got above the horizon and could send a tight beam, the gong clanged loudly, and Pop got into a vacuum-suit and went out the air lock.

  • 1955 ‘M. Leinster’ Scrimshaw in Astounding Science Fiction Sept. 137 Murray Leinster bibliography

    His vacuum suit went slack about him.

  • 1988 K. Tyers Fusion Fire vii. 64 Kathy Tyers bibliography

    Polar wandered back toward the star-filled projection tank beside Adiyn’s long desk, his black mood enveloping him like a vacuum suit.

  • 1990 B. Shaw Orbitsville Departure 103 Bob Shaw bibliography

    Although it was the most over-publicised object in the globe, he paused before the heroic bronze which depicted a man clad in a vacuum suit of a design which had been in service two centuries earlier.

  • 1998 D. Drake With the Lightnings 394 David Drake bibliography

    Daniel had vanished toward the bridge while Adele with the help of two sailors was still getting out of her vacuum suit.

  • 2002 D. Weber Excalibur Alternative xi. 258 David Weber bibliography

    One of the Navy’s main construction docks dominated the scene, and Mugabi could just make out the bright, color-coded vacuum suits of the yard workers as they hovered about the mile-long hull of what would have been a new battlecruiser.

Research requirements

antedating 1930
Earliest cite

E. E. Smith, "Skylark Three"
Research History
Douglas Winston submitted a cite from an undated reprint of Henry Kuttner's 1949 "The Time Axis"; Fred Galvin verified this cite in its 1949 first publication.
Michael Dolbear submitted a cite from a 1999 reprint of David Drake's 1998 "With the Lightnings".
Douglas Winston submitted a 1998 cite from Kathy Tyers' "Fusion Fire".
Malcolm Farmer submitted cites for "vacuum suit" and "vacuum-suit" from a 1999 reprint of Murray Leinster's 1955 "Scrimshaw". Mike Christie verified these in the 1955 magazine publication.
Fred Galvin submitted a 1947 cite from Robert Abernathy's "Failure on Titan"
Fred Galvin submitted a cite from a reprint of H.B. Fyfe's 1948 "Bureau of Slick Tricks", which Mike Christie verified in the original publication.
Fred Galvin submitted a cite from a January 1947 reprint of "Venus Mines, Incorporated", by Nathan Schachner and Arthur Leo Zagat; we would like to verify the cite in its first publication (Wonder Stories, August, 1931)
Fred Galvin submitted a 1930 cite from part II of the serialization of E.E. Smith's "Skylark Three"
Bill Mullins submitted a 1926 cite from Amazing.

Last modified 2022-03-04 18:19:55
In the compilation of some entries, HDSF has drawn extensively on corresponding entries in OED.