NASA Photo ID: S94-29985           File Name: 10109127.jpg

Film Type: 35mm CN                 Date Taken: 03/15/94

Title: STS-65 Mission Specialist Chiao in EMU prepares for WETF contingency EVA

Description:

STS-65 Mission Specialist Leroy Chiao, fully suited in an extravehicular
mobility unit (EMU) and helmet, stands on a platform suspended via an
overhead crane as he is lowered into a 25-feet deep pool at the Johnson
Space Center's (JSC's) Weightless Environment Training Facility (WETF) Bldg
29.  Chiao prepares to be immersed in the pool to practice door and latch
contingency extravehicular activity (EVA) procedures. Although no spacewalk
is planned for the STS-65 International Microgravity Laboratory 2 (IML-2)
mission, NASA always trains some of each mission's crewmembers to perform
in-space tasks that would be required in the event of remote system
failure. For 14 years, the WETF pool has been used to train astronauts for
spacewalks and to evaluate certain hardware and procedures.  Chiao's EMU is
weighted to enable the astronaut to achieve neutral buoyancy once in the
tank.  SCUBA-equipped divers already in the pool guide the platform into
the water.