Germ-proof suits as vehicle sits on open tarmac... must be a government operation...
Safety suits are likely due to hydrazine in the space plane’s fuel. It is extremely toxic.
Not germ-proof.....poison gas proof. The shuttle (and from the pic), this spaceplane, used (I think), nitrous oxide and hydrazine for maneuvering jets. Both highly toxic. Any residual has to be bled from the tanks and vented.
“Germ-proof suits as vehicle sits on open tarmac... must be a government operation...”
You wear suits like that when handling hypergolic fuels or liquid super-oxidizers.
It’s to protect them from the hypergolic fuels used in the vehicles Reaction Control System(RCS). Very caustic, very toxic.
CC
Think ‘toxic chemicals’.