Hasta La Gadget!

Even the most opulent Beverly Hills home featured on Cribs can’t even begin to compare to this half-hour tour of the International Space Station led by NASA ISS Commander Sunita Williams just hours before she returned to Earth on the Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft. More »

If you thought that year out around Europe was an eye opener, how about 12 months on the International Space Station? That’s what’s in store for two unnamed astronauts. Currently, the maximum stay on the ISS is six months, but in 2015, one Russian, and one American will work their way through the whole calendar, in a trip that could help pave the way for deep space travel. Plenty of data has already been collected about the effect microgravity has on the body, but less is known of the longer-term implications. NASA is already considering sending manned expeditions to near-Earth asteroids and Mars in the coming decades — but the results from this excursion could prove invaluable. The names of the chosen two haven’t been revealed, and the Soyuz capsule‘s (currently unaccounted for) third-seat has also sparked talk of another person possibly coming along for the ride. Time to re-plan that gap year?

Filed under: Misc, Science, Alt

US and Russian space agencies to launch first year-long mission on the ISS originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 07 Oct 2012 06:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NASA is trying to bring it’s equipment into the 21st century and that includes updating its spacesuits. Scientists and engineers at NASA have been working to develop the new prototype called the Z-1. This is the new spacesuit that is being developed to replace the twenty-year old model that was first put into service in 1992. Is it just me or does this look like Buzz Lightyear’s suit?


Right now it is undergoing heavy testing. The Z-1 prototype spacesuit and portable life support system has its own airlock. With this new design, an astronaut crawls into the suit from the back, near the top. This is done through an airtight hatch that can latch on to a docking terminal or other vehicle such as a smaller spacecraft or rover unit. This design of course has many possibilities that the previous suits didn’t have. It is also more flexible and cuts down the amount of oxygen that an astronaut uses while in the suit.

I’m not sure why they are bothering since we don’t seem to want to send humans anywhere in space other than space stations, but hey, at least we have new suits if we change our minds. You can find a more detailed image of the Z-1 spacesuitover at Popular Mechanics.

[via Gizmag via Geek]