PoSSUMs in a capsule! (Spacesuit Testing)

Megan Kane in Final Frontier Design Space Suit

So, two weeks after graduating the intro course in Florida and joining the PoSSUM Citizen Scientist Astronautics group, I’m set for my next adventure! Today was my first day of training for spacecraft egress and rescue operations. Over the next 10 days I’ll learn about nominal (normal) and off-nominal (not-normal) operations, particularly for launch and re-entry.

Today we start with basic training in the landing and post landing scenarios and mission planning at Survival Systems USA, a survival training school in Connecticut. In a few days we’ll start with the in-water egress and survival training. All of this training is in preparation for next week when the real fun begins!

Survival Systems USA Facility in Groton, CT

Testing of the Final Frontier Design (FFD) space suits will commence on Thursday.  We will be using a mock up of the Orion capsule being designed by NASA for crewed deep space missions. The goal of the testing it to qualify the FFD Intra-vehicular (IVA) space suit for use with Orion. To that effect we will be doing various egress and rescue scenarios.

All in all it is shaping up to be an exciting 2 weeks. Expect to see some awesome photos coming soon!