Astronauts Take Underwater Moonwalk In 'Apollo 11 Under the Sea'

[entropy13]

It's a haunting sight: a lonely astronaut clad in a spacesuit, standing in a gray, otherworldly landscape.

But why are bubbles coming out of the spacesuit? It turns out this "spaceman" actually worked at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea during underwater training sessions conducted by the European Space Agency (ESA) when these underwater moonwalk photos were taken on Sept. 4.

ESA astronaut Jean-François Clervoy, seen in the photo, and ESA astronaut instructor Hervé Stevenin adopted the roles of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin for an underwater simulation of the historic Apollo 11 mission to the moon, entitled "Apollo 11 Under The Sea." The French deep-diving company Comex simulated the gravity on the moon by adjusting the astronaut’s buoyancy to one-sixth of the gravity felt on Earth. Observers watched from mission control on the Comex research vessel, Minibex, floating above.



Full article here.

 

[Kreij]

I've done the same thing (except in SCUBA gear) in some of the lakes here in WI that have no foliage at the bottom. It is kind of like being on another world given how barren it looks.

The difference is that you see an occasional fish swim by, which you may not see off planet. lol

 

[Iceni]

I suspect the bubbles are because the suit is just a bare suit that doesn't actually function.

If you look at the pictures you can see he is using a regulator.

It probably means they get used to the bulk without having to make sure the suit is 100% functional, using cheap bottled gas rather than the expensive re-breather used in space.