The latter group will wear the new spacesuits made by NASA for Artemis missions. Six have already done training and six more will do so by the end of September. To train for eventual voyages to the Moon, simulations must replicate the Moon's one-sixth gravity.įrom a room above the pool, the astronauts are guided remotely – with the four-second communications delay they will experience on the lunar surface. In the water, astronauts can experience a sensation that approaches weightlessness. "It's all very new for us and very much in development." We just got that large rock in two weeks ago," said the lab's deputy chief Lisa Shore. "It's only been in the last few months that we started to put the sand on the bottom of the pool. On the other, the lunar environment is gradually being recreated at the bottom of the pool, with giant model rocks made by a company specializing in aquarium decorations. On one side of the so-called Neutral Buoyancy Lab is a mockup of the International Space Station, submerged. In the middle of the giant astronaut training tank – the world's largest indoor swimming pool at more than 60 meters (200 feet) long, 30 meters (100 feet) wide and 12 meters (40 feet) deep – a black curtain has been erected. But I'll work hard to keep focused," Perry, who worked on numerous space shuttle flights over the years, told AFP, tapping his chest.īeyond upgrades to Mission Control for the mission, the entire Johnson Space Center is a bit over the moon about Artemis. "I can tell you, my heart is going to be tum tum, tum tum. "This is a whole new deal – a whole new rocket, a whole new spacecraft, a whole new control center," explained Brian Perry, the flight dynamics officer, who will be in charge of Orion's trajectory immediately following the launch. Teams have been rehearsing for this moment for three years. The center has been renovated and updated for the occasion. We'll just have to hope that they come in peace - or are vulnerable to Lysol.For the duration of Artemis 1, a team of about a dozen NASA personnel will remain in Mission Control 24 hours a day. But even with these standards in place, it may prove impossible to fully contain a runaway space microorganism. In 2020, NASA issued an updated procedure for containing alien microbes, though the document hasn't been used yet. Given its atmosphere and geochemistry, Mars is far more likely to harbor microbial life than the moon. Ultimately, the probable failure of Apollo 11's quarantine protocol could be a valuable lesson for future missions, which aim to return samples (and humans) from Mars and beyond. And since any hypothetical moon germs would have evolved separately from life on Earth for a very long time, they might not even have the ability to interact with our cells. The vast majority of microbial life on Earth is completely harmless to people, and some species are even vital to our health. If Apollo 11 had brought back lunar microbes, it's difficult to say whether or not they would have posed any risk to humans. NASA's 17 Apollo moon missions in pictures Will NASA's Artemis astronauts look for life on the moon? Apollo 11 at 50: A complete guide to the historic moon landing
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