Underwater Astronaut Training (1966)

Duration: 1:19

Year Published: 1966

Sound: silent

Description: This unedited footage from Houston’s KPRC-TV captures astronaut training exercises at the Water Immersion Facility at NASA’s Manned Spacecraft Center. After donning a special suit, the astronaut enters the pool to perform simulated extravehicular activity tasks around a submerged Gemini spacecraft. Astronauts trained underwater to simulate the weightlessness of space travel. NASA used the Water Immersion Facility for both the Gemini and Apollo programs before constructing a larger pool in 1980.