NASA underwater testing slimmer suits for spacewalking on asteroids

NASA has been taking advantage of its Neutral Buoyancy Lab near the Johnson Space Center in Houston to run a some new space suits through the wringer. The suits are a modified version of the launch and reentry Advanced Crew Escape System that NASA started employing back in 1994. The tweaked versions are said to be less bulky to better fit within the spacial constraints of the Orion spacecraft and more flexible for walks on deep space missions, including journeys to relocated asteroids.

NASA is taking steps to make spacewalking on an asteroid a reality. In the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) near the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, engineers are testing a modified version of the pumpkin-orange Advanced Crew Escape System (ACES) worn by space shuttle astronauts during launch and reentry for use by future crew in the Orion spacecraft.