NASA moon mission: See the new spacesuit that Artemis astronauts will wear

After more than 50 years of dormancy, the moon is about to become a target for astronauts again.

The public will soon learn the names of the four astronauts who will embark on a journey around the moon aboard the Artemis II rocket next year. The three Americans and one Canadian, to be revealed by NASA on April 3, will fly farther than any human who has traveled during the Apollo missions.

The selection process remains secret, but the astronaut pool is much more diverse than it was decades ago.

As implied in Tom Wolfe’s 1979 book on the space race, each crew member must embody “the right thing” – demonstrating the qualities of a good teammate and effective communicator who expects the unexpected.

And if the Artemis III astronauts go one step further and possibly land on the moon as early as 2025, they will need something else: the right suit.

Defy gravity

This week, NASA and Axiom Space unveiled the new spacesuit worn by the first woman and first person of color to set foot on the moon.

The Artemis III crew seeks to land at the uncharted south pole of the moon, home to frigid, permanently shadowed regions where the ice has been frozen for billions of years.

The redesigned suit allows for more freedom of movement and includes extra insulated boots and other innovations designed to make exploring the lunar surface easier. And it’s about time – the space suits worn by US astronauts haven’t been improved since the space shuttle program was active.

The presented prototype of the new design Axiom Space appears in the colors black, blue and orange. However, the actual suits will be the traditional white from the Apollo days to protect the astronauts from wild temperature swings.

dino mite!

Dinosaurs were some of the largest creatures to roam the earth. Now researchers have discovered one that broke records among giants.

A dino named Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum once enjoyed munching on the leafy greens of trees — which it could easily reach because the creature had a massive neck longer than a school bus.

The sauropod’s 15.1-meter neck, the longest of any known dinosaur, allowed it to stand in place and feed for hours.

But how did Mamenchisaurus not feel weighed down by such an extreme trait? The secret lay in his air-filled bones.

The wonder

A stunning species of orchid has been newly discovered that blooms in rural gardens and suburban balcony planters in Japan.

The rare find, with delicate pink-white flowers that appear to be spun from glass, belongs to a group of orchids called spiranthes, or “lady’s curls.”

Scientists were able to distinguish this orchid from others in its family because the flowers bloomed earlier and the plant has smooth rather than hairy stems.

other worlds

When a scientist on the NASA mission recently reviewed 1991 images of Venus taken by the Magellan spacecraft, he noticed something unusual. Two photos of the same feature taken months apart appeared to be drastically different.

Eight months after Magellan’s first transit, a vent on one of Earth’s largest volcanoes had nearly doubled in size and was filled with a lava lake.

The change reveals never-before-seen evidence of volcanic activity on Venus’ surface, something that future missions may investigate within a decade.

Meanwhile, the search for water on Mars has found evidence of a glacier that recently existed near the red planet’s warm equator.

The glacier no longer exists. But the researchers discovered a crusty layer of salt that preserved surprising details of the chunk of ice — and it’s right in an area where humans may land on Mars.

Mysteries of the Ocean

“Beware the blob, he crawls / And jumps and slides and slides / Across the floor!”

These dramatic lyrics are taken from the theme song of the 1958 film The Blob, but they also serve as a warning of a massive mass making its way across the ocean. A tangle of Sargassum algae has formed in the Atlantic Ocean that stretches more than 5,000 miles (8,047 kilometers).

The floating speck – which may be the largest on record – could dump fetid clumps of seaweed on beaches in Florida and elsewhere along the Gulf of Mexico this summer.

The unprecedented phenomenon could pose major risks for both humans and marine life.

The seaweed mass is great habitat for fish and other marine life, but it can also create dead zones — and even release toxic gases once they hit land.

discoveries

Prepare to be blown away:

– This can be scarier than the blob. Scientists have found ‘terrifying’ rocks made from plastic waste on the volcanic island of Trindade in Brazil.

– The remains of a Roman aristocrat have been found buried along with her jewelry in a lead-lined coffin after archaeologists uncovered a hidden graveyard in northern England.

– The James Webb Space Telescope has captured a sparkling new image of a rare star about to explode.

The CNN Wire™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery company. All rights reserved.