Explained: What does it take for an astronaut to conduct a spacewalk?

NASA designed its next-gen spacesuits in 1974 and astronauts are still wearing those suits despite the fact they were only designed to last 15 years. On June 25, astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Thomas Pesquet successfully completed an almost seven-hour EVA to install solar panels on the International Space Station. Each suit is a human-shaped spacecraft, featuring a backpack that houses a primary life support system; a layered, pressurised outer garment to protect astronauts from the space environment; and a “long john” undergarment that circulates chilled water via tubes over the body to stop the astronauts getting too hot inside their suit. Each EVA participant undergoes up to ten hours of training per hour of EVA time, in a 12-metre-deep pool in which astronauts practise every aspect of their spacewalk, using life-sized mock-ups of ISS components. No doubt he and other astronauts will be keen to don NASA’s new “exploration extravehicular mobility unit ” spacesuits currently under development for the Artemis program, NASA’s long-awaited return to the Moon.