When astronauts come home in Orion from deep-space missions, they’ll need a strategy for a safe and efficient exit. At NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, teams are performing a series of tests Oct. 6-8 to evaluate the most efficient way for astronauts to get out of the spacecraft after weeks or months away from Earth. Orion will send crews to destinations where humans have never traveled before, including to an asteroid and on to deep space destinations including Mars, then bring them safely back. While engineers around the country are developing and building systems to support crews far from Earth in the harsh environment of space, teams also are continuing to develop techniques to ensure the final phase of the astronauts’ journey – getting back to dry land -- is successful. The buoyancy lab, NASA’s 6.2 million gallon pool that is primarily used to train astronauts underwater for spacewalks, provides a controlled environment whe...