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Slimmer Spacesuits Being Designed for Future Astronauts
Astronauts might get a new fashion makeover. You know those big, puffy spacesuits? In the future they may be made skintight! The change isn't really about looks. It's about making a better suit. Dava Newman, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is working with students to design a tighter and lighter spacesuit.
Currently, the puffy suits make it hard to bend your arms and legs. These suits are filled with pressurized gas and weigh 300 pounds. That isn't too bad when astronauts are weightless in space. But if they were somewhere with some gravity, like the moon or Mars, then it can be really difficult to move.
The new suits are called biosuits. They use tightly wrapped materials like nylon and spandex. Another great thing about the new suits is that if they tear, the hole can just be wrapped up on the spot! A hole in the old suit meant the astronaut had to return to the space ship right away. The new biosuits aren't ready yet, but Newman hopes they'll be done in 10 years. By then, astronauts might be headed back to the moon!
I'm Isaac and that's what happened in the arts this week!
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