Awesome Photos of NASA Equipment Tests

There ’s no hardware as coolheaded as blank space hardware . And there ’s nothing cool than watching astronauts and scientists examine out equipment to take us off - world — even equipment that was never used . Here are our favorite images of NASA testing its equipment on Earth .

Top ikon : Reduced Gravity Walking Simulator , located at the Lunar Landing Facility at NASA ’s Langley Research Center in Virginia , 1965 , viaWired .

Inventor Allyn Hazard from Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation testing his moon suit mock-up in a lava crater in the Mojave Desert. The suit carried oxygen and food. Photo by Fritz Goro in the early 1960s.

( viaio9 )

The Astounding Photos that Made America Fall in Love with Science

A test subject being suited up for studies on the Reduced Gravity Walking Simulator located in the hangar at Langley Research Center, December 1963

( viaWikimedia CommonsandRetronaut )

Lunar Landing Research Vehicle test flight at the South Base of Edwards Air Force Base in 1964

( viaWikimedia Commons )

Lunar Roving Vehicle Models by Northrop, 1966

( viaSan Diego Air & Space Museum Archives )

Another spacesuit test, mid-1960s

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin during counter balancing for neutral buoyancy simulation training and standing in dutch shoes on the underside of the Gemini capsule adapter before the Gemini XII flight in November 1966

( viaWikimedia Commons 1–2 )

The OMEGA (One-Man Extravehicular Gimbal Arrangement) shown here permits unlimited freedom, and was designed around a parallel pair of 32-inch-diameter thin-line angular-contact bearings with half the balls removed to minimize friction, 1967

Astronaut in spacesuit traveling on the Pogo test vehicle under the Lunar Landing Research Facility gantry, June 1967

( viadvids )

An Apollo suit test with Bill Smyth, 1968

( viaJSC )

Apollo 16 astronauts (left to right), Lunar Module Pilot Charles M. Duke, Commander John W. Young, and Command Module Pilot Thomas K. Mattingly II during a training exercise in preparation for the Lunar Landing Mission in 1972

An early Space Shuttle ejection escape suit from the first Shuttle orbital test mission, modified version of a USAF high-altitude pressure suit, 1981

( viaVisit Space Coast Blog )

The experimental Ames AX-5 rigid spacesuit of NASA from 1988

A spacesuit tested underwater at NASA’s Ames Research Centre, around 1990

( viaLe Club de Passionnés d’Astronautique )

Mission Specialist Ellen Ochoa, wearing a Launch and Entry Suit (LES) and Launch and Entry Helmet (LEH), simulates an emergency egress procedure at JSC’s Mockup and Integration Laboratory (MAIL), 1992

NASA’s Mars rover, FIDO — Field Integrated Design and Operations, is tested Thursday, 14 February 2025, in the Mojave Desert near Baker, California. FIDO was designed to help scientists figure out how to use the kinds of instruments the next Mars rovers will need to fetch the most scientifically interesting rocks.

( AP Photo / JPL / NASA )

A University of North Dakota Space Studies graduate student named Fabio Sau tests out a experimental planetary space suit in the North Dakota Badlands near Fryburg, N.D., on Saturday, 9 March 2025.

Sau is the guinea pig for an experimental Mars space case that he and about 40 other pupil from five North Dakota school developed under a $ 100,000 Hiram Ulysses Grant from NASA . On the picture above you’re able to see the suit with the outer low-spirited coating , and here without it :

( AP Photo / Will Kincaid )

Future suit testing at Moses Lake, Washington, June 2008

A team of an astronaut and a geologist drive a Small Pressurized Rover through the Arizona desert during field tests of the latest moon buggy. It’s not the final rover design, only the leading prototype at the moment when the photo was taken in 2009.

( AP Photo / NASA )

Researchers test spacesuits on a simulated Mars surface during a training session at Moscow’s Institute for Medical and Biological Problems in May 2010.

( AP Photo / IBMP , Oleg Voloshin , HO )

Bonus: The USAF Mark I Extravehicular and Lunar Surface Suit, designed and built before the launch of the Soviet Sputnik I and the creation of NASA, early 1955. Tested during 1958-59 for more than 600 hours, but never used for real space missions.

( viaThe Lope )

Double Bonus: Artsy Spacesuit Testing Photos from the 1960s

( viaSan Diego Air & Space Archives )

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Inventor Allyn Hazard from Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation testing his moon suit mock-up in a lava crater in the Mojave Desert. The suit carried oxygen and food. Photo by Fritz Goro in the early 1960s.#

A test subject being suited up for studies on the Reduced Gravity Walking Simulator located in the hangar at Langley Research Center, December 1963#

Lunar Landing Research Vehicle test flight at the South Base of Edwards Air Force Base in 1964#

Lunar Roving Vehicle Models by Northrop, 1966#

Another spacesuit test, mid-1960s#

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin during counter balancing for neutral buoyancy simulation training and standing in dutch shoes on the underside of the Gemini capsule adapter before the Gemini XII flight in November 1966#

The OMEGA (One-Man Extravehicular Gimbal Arrangement) shown here permits unlimited freedom, and was designed around a parallel pair of 32-inch-diameter thin-line angular-contact bearings with half the balls removed to minimize friction, 1967#

Astronaut in spacesuit traveling on the Pogo test vehicle under the Lunar Landing Research Facility gantry, June 1967#

An Apollo suit test with Bill Smyth, 1968#

Apollo 16 astronauts (left to right), Lunar Module Pilot Charles M. Duke, Commander John W. Young, and Command Module Pilot Thomas K. Mattingly II during a training exercise in preparation for the Lunar Landing Mission in 1972#

An early Space Shuttle ejection escape suit from the first Shuttle orbital test mission, modified version of a USAF high-altitude pressure suit, 1981#

The experimental Ames AX-5 rigid spacesuit of NASA from 1988#

A spacesuit tested underwater at NASA’s Ames Research Centre, around 1990#

Mission Specialist Ellen Ochoa, wearing a Launch and Entry Suit (LES) and Launch and Entry Helmet (LEH), simulates an emergency egress procedure at JSC’s Mockup and Integration Laboratory (MAIL), 1992#

A University of North Dakota Space Studies graduate student named Fabio Sau tests out a experimental planetary space suit in the North Dakota Badlands near Fryburg, N.D., on Saturday, 9 March 2025.#

Future suit testing at Moses Lake, Washington, June 2008#

A team of an astronaut and a geologist drive a Small Pressurized Rover through the Arizona desert during field tests of the latest moon buggy. It’s not the final rover design, only the leading prototype at the moment when the photo was taken in 2009.#

Researchers test spacesuits on a simulated Mars surface during a training session at Moscow’s Institute for Medical and Biological Problems in May 2010.#

Bonus: The USAF Mark I Extravehicular and Lunar Surface Suit, designed and built before the launch of the Soviet Sputnik I and the creation of NASA, early 1955. Tested during 1958-59 for more than 600 hours, but never used for real space missions.#

Double Bonus: Artsy Spacesuit Testing Photos from the 1960s#

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