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"One could imagine a very ascetic sort of life ... where the body is ignored. This is something I've played with in my books, where people hate to be reminded sometimes that they have bodies, they find it very slow and tedious."
- William Gibson

Altitude Suit  
  Special gear for venturing out at high altitude or even space.  

Before the phrase "space suit" was created, you still needed something to venture out into the harsh vacuum of space.

I suggest that we stop, leave the ship here, and enter on foot. We can wear altitude suits and carry our ray pistols.”

The others agreed, and they at once put on their altitude suits, heavy rubberized canvas suits designed to be worn outside the ship when at high altitude, or even in space. They were supplied with oxygen tanks that would keep the wearer alive for about six hours. Unless the atmosphere of the ships was exceeding corrosive, the men would be safe.

Technovelgy from The Black Star Passes, by John W. Campbell.
Published by Amazing Stories in 1930
Additional resources -

Compare to these other early space suit references; the air-tight suit from Edison's Conquest of Mars (1898) by Garrett P. Serviss, the pneumatic suit from The Shot into Infinity (1929) by Otto Willi Gail, the space suit from The Emperor of the Stars (1931) by Schachner and Zagat, the Osprey Space Armor from Salvage in Space (1933) by Jack Williamson and the space overalls from Lost Rocket (1941) by Manly Wade Wellman.

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from The Black Star Passes
  More Ideas and Technology by John W. Campbell
  Tech news articles related to The Black Star Passes
  Tech news articles related to works by John W. Campbell

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