 I've been lucky enough to watch people launch to orbit, but I've had to stay behind here on Earth. And unfortunately, being a reporter doesn't really qualify me to be an astronaut. But it does let me pretend to dress like one. That means one thing. Spacesuits. I can really see myself in this. Get it? Cause it's reflective. Designing a spacesuit is an incredibly complicated process combining knowledge of textiles, engineering, biology and atmospheric science. That means there's no one size fits all for a suit. Right now, astronauts going to the International Space Station have a specialized suit geared for spacewalks in lower Earth orbit. But different suits will be needed if we want to go elsewhere in the solar system. And they'll have to be tailored to the place an astronaut is going. Luckily, I found a place that will let me cosplay as a future planetary explorer. We're here in the great state of North Dakota. The university here has a human spaceflight laboratory where they make prototype spacesuits for going to the moon or to Mars. And they said, I get to try one on. This is Pablo de Leon, a professor here at the University of North Dakota and the head of the lab. In that lifeless form on the table between us, that's a prototype spacesuit for Mars called the NDX-1 that I'm about to try on. It's been tested out in some extreme environments including Antarctica and simulated Martian surfaces at NASA. So it's the real deal. But first, I want to know what it takes to make a spacesuit. It's very difficult to contain a human inside basically what is a bag full of oxygen. So you have to create it in a way that is mobile, that is comfortable for the astronaut, that is safe and will protect him or her of vacuum and all the other dangers that you have in space. When you design a suit, you have to take into consideration of the environment and you have to study that particular place. For example, we use a Mars simulant that simulates the characteristics of Mars soil because we don't have any Mars soil yet here on Earth. So basically it's dust, gravity, atmospheric composition. Mars may be cold, but it can definitely get hot inside a confined suit. In order to control temperature, astronauts use a full-body liquid cooling garment. This garment contains tubing that circulates cold water, removing heat from the skin. It's something astronauts already use when they do their spacewalks. As you can imagine, it's slightly uncomfortable but will prevent you from overheating. I won't be wearing this today, but I will need to change my clothes before I get suited up. All right. Suit me up. So there are some restrictions when it comes to filming someone getting into a space suit. We weren't allowed to film me actually putting it on because of some international regulations. I didn't really mind because getting into such a bulky suit isn't exactly the most graceful experience. So clearly this is a three, four person draft. I'm assuming it's going to be not that fun on Mars either. Just getting it, doing it on Earth is a bit of a chore. The first thing you feel is how heavy and restricting it is. It's about 30 pounds here on Earth that you're mostly carrying on your shoulders. Fortunately Mars has one third the gravity of Earth, so the suit would feel slightly lighter over there. Plus it didn't fit me exactly right so my fingers didn't quite reach all the way in the gloves. And then they pressurized it, which made things even more difficult. You ready? I'm ready. Oh, ears are definitely popping. How does anyone move in this at all? Being in a bag of Earth's atmosphere feels a bit like walking in a giant balloon. I was getting a workout just trying to keep my arms where I wanted them. It proved challenging when it came to performing simple tasks. Oh yeah! There you go. Okay, you got it. That was a piece of cake. It's very clear that roaming around Mars won't be as easy as going for a simple walk. But all of this discomfort is just a necessary byproduct of keeping astronauts alive. And it's quite an engineering feat that I was able to perform tasks in a suit that's designed to protect me from an alien environment like Mars. And you are out. Oh my goodness. You survived. Okay, we'll get you out of the suit. Alright? Let's just say Mars will not be comfortable. After breaking out of the Mars suit and wiping off the sweat, I was ready to head to my next location, the moon. Well, sort of. We tried on the Martian spacesuit, which was intense. So we've come to a much easier environment, the lunar surface, which is only 1 sixth the Earth's gravity. Basically, I'm going to start my day on the moon in the lunar habitat, make my way through this tube to the rover, and then dive into this suit and go for a moonwalk. The cool thing about this is that this is the only place that you can go from a habitat to a rover to a suit and then boots on the ground in one seamless system. So the fact that we get to try this out today is pretty cool. So here we are in the habitat, and you've got your basics, you know, place to sleep, a fridge, kitchen. But right now, I need to leave the hab and go to my rover. It's a bit like Discovery Zone. All right, now we are in the rover. But I'm not driving today. I need to get in my suit. Okay. There you go. Let me know when you reach the end of the boots. I needed a bit of help to get my legs into place, and then I was ready to pull the release and have a bit of fun. No, just one. There you go. And there you are. Step down. Step down. All right. All right. Frolicking in the lunar suit was a bit easier at first. It was a training suit, so it weighed less and I wasn't fully pressurized. Also, this suit was slightly more spacious, making it easier to grip and maneuver. But after a while, it still got incredibly hot, and doing sprints tired me out. It's time for a nap. I have a new respect for people who go to space now. My main takeaway from all of this, designing a space suit means thinking about thousands of different problems that don't immediately come to mind. And floating around the outside of the station requires a completely different type of suit than one for a Mars expedition or one for a lunar base. Plus, a suit that can keep people alive in these extreme environments isn't exactly the easiest thing to work in. To be fair, I had Earth's atmosphere and gravity working against me, but it's clear I need a lot more training before I can work for hours in a space suit. So, in case you have to do it, use the restroom. You get to do that in here. Right. But it's, hopefully, you don't feel it for the rest of this. No, this is actually, this is a maximum absorption garment. So it will hold up. Maximum absorption.
 I've been lucky enough to watch people launch to orbit, but I've had to stay behind here
 on Earth.
 And unfortunately, being a reporter doesn't really qualify me to be an astronaut.
 But it does let me pretend to dress like one.
 That means one thing.
 Spacesuits.
 I can really see myself in this.
 Get it?
 Cause it's reflective.
 Designing a spacesuit is an incredibly complicated process combining knowledge of textiles, engineering,
 biology and atmospheric science.
 That means there's no one size fits all for a suit.
 Right now, astronauts going to the International Space Station have a specialized suit geared
 for spacewalks in lower Earth orbit.
 But different suits will be needed if we want to go elsewhere in the solar system.
 And they'll have to be tailored to the place an astronaut is going.
 Luckily, I found a place that will let me cosplay as a future planetary explorer.
 We're here in the great state of North Dakota.
 The university here has a human spaceflight laboratory where they make prototype spacesuits
 for going to the moon or to Mars.
 And they said, I get to try one on.
 This is Pablo de Leon, a professor here at the University of North Dakota and the head
 of the lab.
 In that lifeless form on the table between us, that's a prototype spacesuit for Mars
 called the NDX-1 that I'm about to try on.
 It's been tested out in some extreme environments including Antarctica and simulated Martian
 surfaces at NASA.
 So it's the real deal.
 But first, I want to know what it takes to make a spacesuit.
 It's very difficult to contain a human inside basically what is a bag full of oxygen.
 So you have to create it in a way that is mobile, that is comfortable for the astronaut,
 that is safe and will protect him or her of vacuum and all the other dangers that you
 have in space.
 When you design a suit, you have to take into consideration of the environment and you have
 to study that particular place.
 For example, we use a Mars simulant that simulates the characteristics of Mars soil because we
 don't have any Mars soil yet here on Earth.
 So basically it's dust, gravity, atmospheric composition.
 Mars may be cold, but it can definitely get hot inside a confined suit.
 In order to control temperature, astronauts use a full-body liquid cooling garment.
 This garment contains tubing that circulates cold water, removing heat from the skin.
 It's something astronauts already use when they do their spacewalks.
 As you can imagine, it's slightly uncomfortable but will prevent you from overheating.
 I won't be wearing this today, but I will need to change my clothes before I get suited
 up.
 All right.
 Suit me up.
 So there are some restrictions when it comes to filming someone getting into a space suit.
 We weren't allowed to film me actually putting it on because of some international regulations.
 I didn't really mind because getting into such a bulky suit isn't exactly the most graceful
 experience.
 So clearly this is a three, four person draft.
 I'm assuming it's going to be not that fun on Mars either.
 Just getting it, doing it on Earth is a bit of a chore.
 The first thing you feel is how heavy and restricting it is.
 It's about 30 pounds here on Earth that you're mostly carrying on your shoulders.
 Fortunately Mars has one third the gravity of Earth, so the suit would feel slightly
 lighter over there.
 Plus it didn't fit me exactly right so my fingers didn't quite reach all the way in
 the gloves.
 And then they pressurized it, which made things even more difficult.
 You ready?
 I'm ready.
 Oh, ears are definitely popping.
 How does anyone move in this at all?
 Being in a bag of Earth's atmosphere feels a bit like walking in a giant balloon.
 I was getting a workout just trying to keep my arms where I wanted them.
 It proved challenging when it came to performing simple tasks.
 Oh yeah!
 There you go.
 Okay, you got it.
 That was a piece of cake.
 It's very clear that roaming around Mars won't be as easy as going for a simple walk.
 But all of this discomfort is just a necessary byproduct of keeping astronauts alive.
 And it's quite an engineering feat that I was able to perform tasks in a suit that's
 designed to protect me from an alien environment like Mars.
 And you are out.
 Oh my goodness.
 You survived.
 Okay, we'll get you out of the suit.
 Alright?
 Let's just say Mars will not be comfortable.
 After breaking out of the Mars suit and wiping off the sweat, I was ready to head to my next
 location, the moon.
 Well, sort of.
 We tried on the Martian spacesuit, which was intense.
 So we've come to a much easier environment, the lunar surface, which is only 1 sixth the
 Earth's gravity.
 Basically, I'm going to start my day on the moon in the lunar habitat, make my way through
 this tube to the rover, and then dive into this suit and go for a moonwalk.
 The cool thing about this is that this is the only place that you can go from a habitat
 to a rover to a suit and then boots on the ground in one seamless system.
 So the fact that we get to try this out today is pretty cool.
 So here we are in the habitat, and you've got your basics, you know, place to sleep,
 a fridge, kitchen.
 But right now, I need to leave the hab and go to my rover.
 It's a bit like Discovery Zone.
 All right, now we are in the rover.
 But I'm not driving today.
 I need to get in my suit.
 Okay.
 There you go.
 Let me know when you reach the end of the boots.
 I needed a bit of help to get my legs into place, and then I was ready to pull the release
 and have a bit of fun.
 No, just one.
 There you go.
 And there you are.
 Step down.
 Step down.
 All right.
 All right.
 Frolicking in the lunar suit was a bit easier at first.
 It was a training suit, so it weighed less and I wasn't fully pressurized.
 Also, this suit was slightly more spacious, making it easier to grip and maneuver.
 But after a while, it still got incredibly hot, and doing sprints tired me out.
 It's time for a nap.
 I have a new respect for people who go to space now.
 My main takeaway from all of this, designing a space suit means thinking about thousands
 of different problems that don't immediately come to mind.
 And floating around the outside of the station requires a completely different type of suit
 than one for a Mars expedition or one for a lunar base.
 Plus, a suit that can keep people alive in these extreme environments isn't exactly
 the easiest thing to work in.
 To be fair, I had Earth's atmosphere and gravity working against me, but it's clear
 I need a lot more training before I can work for hours in a space suit.
 So, in case you have to do it, use the restroom.
 You get to do that in here.
 Right.
 But it's, hopefully, you don't feel it for the rest of this.
 No, this is actually, this is a maximum absorption garment.
 So it will hold up.
 Maximum absorption.