RD&PE Zvezda
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Research, Development & Production Enterprise Zvezda (RD&PE Zvezda for short, or НПП Звезда in Russian) is a Russian manufacturer of life-support systems for high-altitude flight and space travel. Its products include space suits, ejector seats, aircraft escape slides, lifejackets and fire extinguishers. It is based in Tomilino, near Moscow. Zvezda is the Russian word for 'star'.
The organization was founded in 1952 to develop aviation pressure suits and in-flight refuelling systems for the USSR's space research programme. In the 1960s it began to design space suits, including the one worn by Yuri Gagarin. The Orlan-M space suit was used by cosmonauts in the Mir space station. Zvezda became a private company in 1994.