WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

Astronaut Gerhard P.J. Thiele, mission specialist representing the European Space Agency (ESA), awaits his communications head gear and helmet as he stands on a movable platform. Minutes later he was lowered into a deep pool for an underwater training session at the Johnson Space Center's Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL), part of the Sonny Carter Training Center. Thiele has weights on the training version of his extravehicular mobility unit (EMU) which help to provide neutral buoyancy in the deep pool. Astronauts Thiele and Janet L. Kavandi were participating in a rehearsal of a contingency space walk.