NASA Astronauts Go Underwater to Test Tools

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NASA Astronauts Go Underwater to Test Tools for a Mission to an Asteroid

NASA is planning to send astronauts to an asteroid in the 2020s, and preparations are already being made.

Stan Love and Steve Bowen have between them spent more than 62 hours in the vacuum of space on nine shuttle mission spacewalks, and they’re putting that experience to use here on Earth by helping engineers determine what astronauts will need on NASA’s next step toward Deep Space. Wearing modified versions of the orange space shuttle launch and entry suits, the two went underwater on May 9, in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, a 40-feet-deep swimming pool that helps provide the lack of gravity needed for astronauts to practice for spacewalks. There a mockup of the Orion spacecraft that will carry astronauts to the asteroid, docked to a mockup of the robotic spacecraft that will be used to capture an asteroid and bring it into a stable orbit near the moon, provided the backdrop for the simulated spacewalk.

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Space Station Live: Testing a New Spacesuit for an Asteroid Spacewalk

Interview with NASA astronauts Stan Love and Steve Bowen, conducted during a Neutral Buoyancy Lab test run of the MACES spacesuit being developed for spacewalks on an asteroid exploration mission—the astronauts spoke with NASA commentator Pat Ryan live from underwater about NASA's plans for exploring an asteroid and developing the tools needed to support that plan.

Credit: NASA

Source: NASA - Multimedia

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Asteroid Initiative: Practicing for a Future Mission to an Asteroid

Astronauts Stan Love and Steve Bowen practice climbing out of the Orion spacecraft and taking samples from an asteroid in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory at Johnson Space Center.

Credit: NASA

Source: NASA - Multimedia