Astronauts practise tasks in a simulated moon environment
NASA
Preparing to send people back to the moon is a complex business, with astronaut safety at the top of the list of priorities. In the image above, NASA crew members are testing a new generation of spacesuits, built by Texas-based aerospace company Axiom Space.
The company’s Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit aims to make life easier by increasing the flexibility and mobility of the astronauts when they navigate the moon’s surface and collect geological samples.
Axiom Space completed its internal review of the suits earlier this month. Now, it is NASA’s turn to evaluate whether they are ready for its Artemis III mission. Set for 2028, Artemis III aims to return humans to the moon for the first time in over 55 years, this time to the lunar South Pole.
“This achievement reflects our shared commitment to deliver a safe, capable lunar spacesuit that will enable astronauts to explore the Moon’s surface,” Lara Kearney, manager of the extravehicular activity and human surface mobility programme at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, explained in a recent statement.
So far, the suits have undergone more than 850 hours of pressurised testing with someone inside them. Here, two NASA crew members practise emergency rescue drills while donning the suits in a pool that is about 12 metres deep. The suits are weighted to match lunar gravity, which is about a sixth of the gravity we experience on Earth.
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