NASA spacewalks underwater to get ready for the moon

NASA's moon plans may be under review by the White House but Constellation's plans to get astronauts back walking on the lunar surface continue unabated.

In a NASA blog posted on Wednesday, the agency announced that three NASA astronauts are getting ready to practice future off-planet spacewalks undersea near Key Largo, Florida.

According to the blog post (which you can read in full here), the three astronauts, a Constellation Program engineer and a team of "diving 'buddies'" are getting ready for grueling underwater mission next spring.

"The NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations 14 (NEEMO 14) was slipped from October to allow the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to complete a safety review of its Aquarius underwater laboratory.

"Aquarius, located three miles off Key Largo in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, is the world's only permanent underwater habitat and laboratory

"The team of NASA divers and astronauts spent last week doing preliminary work at a Key Largo, Fla., base. This week the team will perform some engineering evaluations on a low-fidelity, full scale mock-up of the Altair lunar lander positioned next to NOAA’s lab."

Cool job if you can get it.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_space_thewritestuff/2009/10/nasas-walks-underwater-to-get-ready-for-the-moon.html