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NASA's First New Spacesuit In 20 Years Is Its Own Airlock
Zothecula writes "The current U.S. space suit used by NASA is a dinosaur. Designed in 1992, it was only ever intended to be used by crews aboard the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station (ISS). That may have been good enough in the days of 14 kps modems, but with eyes turning increasingly toward missions to the Moon, Mars and the asteroids, space explorers need something better. That's why NASA is designing its first new suit in twenty years. Developed by NASA's Advanced Exploration Systems (AES), the Z-1 prototype space suit currently undergoing vacuum testing at the Johnson Space Center is a wearable laboratory of new technology. And it's a hatchback."
Um.... FTW!
yeah.
and beyond!
NASA outsourced this particular suit design to Hasbro, who then produced it under a license from Disney/Pixar.
14.4k
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
Shouldn't that be the hatchback of Notre-dame?
To infinity and beyond! (Is it just me, or have they actually built Buzz Lightyear?)
Manned space exploration isn't funded because we need to. It is funded because we want to. It is basically a fancier version of the Blue Angels. Mars rovers can look as unaesthetic as you want. But an astronaut, who theoretically could be fighting giant octopuses and pirates in space needs to look right. NASA should really talk to Blizzard or Bioware about how to make astronauts look like Space Marines.
a few Anglo-Saxon guys pocket the rest of the cash.
Oh, them. That's the Beowulf cluster you've heard tell of.
No no no, we're talking about a spacesuit here. :P
The tool's girlfriend?
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin