NASA plans to send astronauts on a mission to Mars in a few decades. These explorers will need protection from harsh conditions in space should the spacecraft become damaged during the long journey. That’s why NASA recently put its new Orion spacesuits—which future astronauts will wear—through a critical test.
Space is a near-vacuum, meaning it contains almost no matter, including air. To find out how the new suits perform, crewmembers wore them in a special vacuum test chamber at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. The suits passed this round with flying colors, but they must go through many additional tests, such as experiments simulating low gravity. “We design, test, collect data, update the design, and test again, until we reach the final design,” says Dustin Gohmert, project manager for the suits.