Alien Footprints On The Moon? , page 10

Just a bit of info regarding the Apollo lunar “overshoe” boot sizes that I think is relevant to the discussion.

The tread mark you are debating was left in the lunar surface by the astronaut’s outer boot, known as the “overshoe”. Now, to clarify, this overshoe is worn overtop of an integral inner boot that is a part of what they called the Torso and Limb Suit Assembly (TLSA).

To simplify, let’s think of the TLSA as the primary “pressure garment” part of the Apollo A7-L and A7-LB spacesuits. Overtop the TLSA is the white part of the spacesuit that you see in all the photos. This white oversuit was known as the ITMG - or Integrated Thermal Micrometeoroid Garment. Put the TLSA and the ITMG together (sorry about the acronyms, but hey, it is NASA!) and you get what they called the PGA - Pressure Garment Assembly - basically the complete spacesuit without the EVA accoutrements added.

Now, when the astronauts were initially measured for their spacesuits, those measurements were used to make the TLSA pressure garment. The inner boots were integrally attached to the TLSA garment, and were custom fit for each astronaut‘s individual foot.

Here is a decent photograph of the TLSA-portion of the Apollo A7-LB pressure suit used during Apollo 15, 16 and 17. This is what the suit looks like when you remove the white ITMG “top layer” of the suit. Notice the integral boots. (sorry, don’t know how to embed)
history.nasa.gov...

Ok, so the astronaut’s feet are fit specifically for the TLSA integral boot. Next, the suit tech’s attach the ITMG outer layer (the white part) to the spacesuit. This outer portion of the suit ALSO features integral boots built into it’s design. Here is a picture of Jack Schmitt’s PGA he wore during the Apollo 17 mission (also the A7-LB model - the suit is at the Smithsonian), and you can see the boot portion is in fact an integral part of the ITMG white outer layer of the suit.
www.hq.nasa.gov...

THEN, when they get to the Moon and are suiting up for the EVA, the astronauts finally pull on their non-integral “lunar overshoes”, which are going overtop both the TLSA and ITMG layers of the spacesuit.
www.hq.nasa.gov...

Now, the “lunar overshoe” was designed to be a loose-fitting boot, with the ITMG layer beneath it being “puffy“ enough to expand and fill up any slight space in the toes of the overshoe once it was pulled over the foot and the suit was pressurized. The overshoes were absolutely NOT designed to fit snugly like a running shoe or hiking boot. Due to the Moon’s low gravity, mobility and traction requirements were easily met without having to provide the astronauts with better “foot feel” by tightening the lunar overshoe (indeed, the astronauts had no complaints about the overshoe-boot system at all).

To my knowledge, all the lunar overshoes worn on the Moon during the Apollo program were a standard 13x6 inches in tread size, one-size-fits-all, simple slip-on system made by ILC Dover. IF someone can come up with anything to suggest otherwise, I would be interested in hearing about it.

Cheers gang!