Japan to enter space race

0 Comments | AFP, December, 2005

TOKYO (AFP) — Japan hopes to become the third nation to produce a space suit, using its technology to design a slimmer outfit for the next US mission to the moon.

Japan will use its computer and fiber knowhow to design gear weighing 20 kilograms (44 pounds), down from the burdensome 120 kilograms (265 pounds) of the current US-made outfit, a space agency official said on Wednesday.

Space suits, which are also made by Russia, must shield humans from massive change in temperature and protect them from nuisances such as meteoric stones.

The agency aims to develop the new space outfit in time for the US manned mission to the Moon due in 2018, the first since 1972.

A special team of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has launched a feasibility study...