How great would it be to go swimming in the Neutral Buoyancy Lab?

[malinghi]

Fun fact: Astronauts train for all spacewalks in a giant 6.2 million gallon pool at Johnson Space Center in Houston. Its called the Neutral Buoyancy Lab.

How awesome would it be to play in such a gigantic pool?

http://wetpixel.com/images/echeng/echeng090723_226736.jpg
http://dx12.jsc.nasa.gov/gallery/images/full/DSCN0014_JPG.jpg

[Mermaid Saphira]

holy cow..that's alot of pool!

[malinghi]

One time I was getting a ride from a guy I know who works for NASA and saw he had SCUBA gear in the back seat of his car. I asked how he got into SCUBA diving and he said that he learned how in the 90's so that he could work in the neutral buoyancy tank while they were training for one of the hubble missions. How awesome is that?

[New York Mermaid]

Man if nasa could only rent that place for special events .lol

[Joy&RaptorsUnrestrained!]

Hmm... isn't the space-program more or less ended? Maybe they'll re-purpose the neutral buoyancy tank. On the other hand, a merperson in space or on one of those zero-gravity plane rides would be pretty cool, too.

[Mermaid Hamant]

Wow! That would be awesome!

[malinghi]

Ha, no, it hasn't ended, but that misconception is understandable. Officially the US government remains committed to always supporting manned spaceflight, but in the current economic crisis they've made life at NASA hell. Nevermind the fact that it only amounts to 0.3% of the federal budget.