These amazing photographs show NASA astronauts hard at work training for missions in space - in the world's largest pool.
The U.S. space agency has built a swimming pool 10 times as large as an Olympic pool in an attempt to prepare astronauts for the experience of weightlessness.
The Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory contains 6.2million gallons of water, used by astronauts in full space suits to carry out the tasks they will be expected to perform in space.
The pool stretches for more than 200ft and in places reaches a depth of 40ft - roughly the same as four double-decker buses stacked on top of one another.
Hundreds of astronauts have used the state-of-the-art training device ahead of missions aboard the International Space Station.
Among those who have trained at the lab is Chris Hadfield, who shot to fame over the past few months with a series of popular YouTube videos chronicling his experiences in space.
The NBL is located at the Sonny Carter Training Facility, near NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
It consists of a large indoor pool of water in which astronauts perform simulated tasks in preparation for upcoming missions, such as spacewalks.
Neutral buoyancy is the term used to describe something that has an equal tendency to float as it does sink - providing practically the same situation as being truly weightless.
The walls surrounding the pool are six foot thick and support nearly 26,000 tons of water which has been filtered and heated to 86F.
Since the mid-1960s, neutral buoyancy has been an invaluable tool for testing procedures, developing hardware and training astronauts.
Astronauts require preparation for weightlessness because of the difficulty of operating equipment and moving around in such an unfamiliar environment.
Many people who travel outside the Earth's atmosphere suffer from 'space sickness', which leads to nausea and vertigo.
When astronauts spend extended periods in space, they can suffer more serious conditions such as muscle atrophy due to the difficulty of exercising properly.
Source : DailyMail
The U.S. space agency has built a swimming pool 10 times as large as an Olympic pool in an attempt to prepare astronauts for the experience of weightlessness.
The Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory contains 6.2million gallons of water, used by astronauts in full space suits to carry out the tasks they will be expected to perform in space.
The pool stretches for more than 200ft and in places reaches a depth of 40ft - roughly the same as four double-decker buses stacked on top of one another.
Hundreds of astronauts have used the state-of-the-art training device ahead of missions aboard the International Space Station.
Among those who have trained at the lab is Chris Hadfield, who shot to fame over the past few months with a series of popular YouTube videos chronicling his experiences in space.
The NBL is located at the Sonny Carter Training Facility, near NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
It consists of a large indoor pool of water in which astronauts perform simulated tasks in preparation for upcoming missions, such as spacewalks.
Neutral buoyancy is the term used to describe something that has an equal tendency to float as it does sink - providing practically the same situation as being truly weightless.
The walls surrounding the pool are six foot thick and support nearly 26,000 tons of water which has been filtered and heated to 86F.
Since the mid-1960s, neutral buoyancy has been an invaluable tool for testing procedures, developing hardware and training astronauts.
Astronauts require preparation for weightlessness because of the difficulty of operating equipment and moving around in such an unfamiliar environment.
Many people who travel outside the Earth's atmosphere suffer from 'space sickness', which leads to nausea and vertigo.
When astronauts spend extended periods in space, they can suffer more serious conditions such as muscle atrophy due to the difficulty of exercising properly.
Source : DailyMail
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