National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) astronaut Jessica Meir recently shared pictures of spacesuit training on a lunar-like landscape.
The National Aeronautic and Space Administration, or NASA, is making it seem like astronauts have returned to the moon, with eerie new images emerging
The photos were released via X (formerly known as Twitter) and depicted her and an unidentified colleague at the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA)’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, standing in a simulated lunar environment complete with lamps and black walls to recreate the moon’s challenging conditions.
In these images, Meir, a seasoned International Space Station astronaut, is seen exchanging fistbumps with her partner while both wear spacesuits designed for weight and mobility practice, though not entirely sealed. These exercises are a crucial part of the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) Artemis program, which has the ambitious goal of landing astronauts on the moon during the Artemis 3 mission, slated for no earlier than 2025 or 2026. Meir expressed her gratitude to the incredible training team, emphasizing that Artemis 3 will mark the first human lunar landing since Apollo 17 in 1972.
JSC’s rock yard is just one of the ways the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) prepares astronauts for moonwalking
Another annual exercise, the Joint EVA Test Team (JETT) in Flagstaff, Arizona, simulates moonwalks in a desert landscape at night using lamps to mimic the lunar surface‘s harsh lighting. Although this year’s JETT exercise has been delayed until 2024, the commitment to training and preparation remains strong.
Artemis 3‘s crew is yet to be named, but the upcoming round-the-moon mission, Artemis 2, has already assigned four astronauts for a late 2024 excursion. This inclusivity initiative by the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) extends to women and people of color, with Victor Glover set to become the first Black person to leave low Earth orbit, Christina Koch as the first woman, and Jeremy Hansen as the first non-American on Artemis program missions. Diversity records continue to be broken in space exploration, as seen with Jessica Meir’s participation in the first all-woman spacewalk alongside Christina Koch, who also spent nearly a year aboard the ISS.
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