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>> We heard earlier in the hour

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from public affairs officer
Lynnette Madison talking

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with Mallory Jennings the
Suitport Human Testing Lead

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for some tests that are going
on with some new equipment here

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at Johnson Space Center in one

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of our vacuum chambers
in building 32.

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We're going to go now back to
Lynnette Madison who is going

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to be this time talking
with Joel Maganza

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who is the test director

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for this unman test
that's going on now.

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Lynnette.

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>> Thank you, Brandi.

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We are back here in building
32 in the control chamber

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in the control room for
chamber B and I have here

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with me Joel Maganza who is the
testing director for this test

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and Joel while we were off
camera Joel actually told me a

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couple of interesting
things and I wanted him

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to share this with our audience.

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So, Joel, tell me a
little bit about chamber A?

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>> Well first of all chamber A
is the world's largest thermal

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vacuum chamber.

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We have it here at NASA we have
used it back in the Apollo days

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but it hasn't been used
often in recent years.

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What we're doing right now is
doing a lot of upgrades to it,

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to our LM2 system and our
pressers systems on it

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and we're trying
to get that ready

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to test the James Webb space
telescope in 2015 and 16.

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>> That's pretty
exciting to have that kind

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of new opportunity here at
the Johnson Space Center.

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>> It is really great to
have something like that.

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Something like the Hubble
will advance a lot we know

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about space and take it either
even further then we already

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have it right now.

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>> So tell me about
chamber B you said --

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I asked you if there was
something about chamber B other

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than it's a thermal vac chamber

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and you told me two things
one is that it is the only?

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>> It is the only human
rated thermal vacuum chamber

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in the world.

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We have other vacuum chambers
here at NASA and other parts

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of the world where a person
can be in a space suit

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or in some kind of suit and
be in a vacuum environment

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but this is the only one
that can simulate the thermal

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and vacuum properties of space.

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And the other thing was
you told me something

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about your very first
testing run here and when was

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that and what happened.

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>> Yes. Back when hurricane Ike
hit Houston the railroad museum

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in Galveston, Texas was actually
badly flooded they have a lot

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of documents and records from
the early 1800s that came to us

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to ask if there was
anything we could do to help

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and there is actually a
process using the vacuum chamber

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that we were able to dry out
a lot of their old documents

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and still preserve
the paper as usually

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when paper gets wet
it's pretty ruined

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but using the vacuum
process we were able

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to help salvage a lot
of their documents.

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>> That's incredible.

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I had never heard
that while I was here

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so that's pretty interesting.

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So tell me about
today's testing.

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We've learned that we're testing
a Suitport but tell me about --

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I saw over here on one of
the computer screens all

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of these diagrams, and
their words on there

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like strain gauges so tell
me what is a strain gauge

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and what you're testing.

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>> Well any time we
test what you see

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in the chamber what you
see visually is just part

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of the picture.

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There's a whole underlying
iceberg there of all the gauges

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and data that we're
going to be taking.

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For this test we're measuring
different pressure differentials

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across the Suitport
and the blinding plate.

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We're also measuring the
strain gauges which kind

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of tell us how much force
is acting on different parts

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of the blank plate and what's
that going to do is help us

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when we put a suit in there
to let us know what kind

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of forces are going to be
interacting on the frame

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around that suit and
how it's going to --

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how the delta pressure
will take effect.

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>> So what is the delta pressure

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and what is the pressure
variance in that chamber?

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>> The delta pressure
for this test will be --

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well what the delta pressure
is, it's a differential pressure

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between two different things.

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So right now we are at 14.7 PSIA

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which is the atmospheric
pressure of earth

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and this chamber we are going
to pump down to about 6.4 PSIA,

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so we'll have a difference
in pressure

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of 8.3 pounds per square
inch during this test.

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And what that will do is
simulate the difference

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in pressure when an astronaut
or crew member would go

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out in this suit to what they
would be to their environment.

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Some day eventually we will
pump this down to vacuum

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and have the suit pressurize
at 8.3 much like we do

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with our training for
astronauts in the EMU now.

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>> And will you do that with
the man test that's coming up

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or will you do something
a little bit different?

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>> For this man test we are
only pumping them chamber done

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to 6.4.

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The test subject and crew
members inside will remain

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at 14.7 so this is a low hazard
for this and the further we pump

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down the more we go to
vacuum the more hazardous the

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test becomes.

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>> And what is the
long term plan

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for this all of these testings?

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I mean how many testings will
you be participating it in?

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>> Me personally I
will be participating

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in almost all of them.

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There is a four year plan down
the road for several other tests

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and other variations of the
Z1 suit and the Suitport

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with different mechanisms.

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So we're going to be testing
different configurations

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to determine which one is
the best one to drive forward

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to be used for the next
generation of space suits

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and space exploration.

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>> So this test today
again is an unmanned test

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and how long will the test run.

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>> This test will go about two
days, we're doing four runs,

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two runs in two days

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which should cover all
our unmanned requirements.

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After that we'll be
installing the Z1 suit

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and then we have
two weeks of testing

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with five different test
subjects after that.

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>> How many people are
involved in the testing?

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How many people work
in the chamber?

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>> Well an unman test
we don't have very many.

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We have a few engineers
and a few technicians

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and a test director
and requesters.

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When we go to man tests
it's much more hazardous

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since we have somebody
in a vacuum environment,

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so we have to add in
medical personal on standby,

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we have to add in rescue
techs, and we have to add

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in basically a lot more sets
of eyes to monitor all the data

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and to monitor the
individual in the suit.

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>> So the information
that we've learned today,

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you'll use that to
modify the suit

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and you're really just
looking at the pressures

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and the forces on this suit?

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Explain a little bit
more to me about that.

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>> The information
we're gathering today

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and tomorrow will be used
to basically to verify

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that this set up is
acceptable to install a suit

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and have a person in that suit.

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Once we start the man testing

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that will tell us what
modifications need to be made

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to the suit the ingress
and egress into the suit

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and Suitport, but for right
now we're basically making sure

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that everything is safe so that
when we have somebody crawl

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in they know they're safe and we
can basically take care of them.

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>> Well let me ask you
something about you, Joel,

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how long have you
been testing director?

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>> I've been a test director
here for a five years.

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I started out as an engineer
in this building working mostly

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on chamber A to get ready the
James Webb Space telescope

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and I've been doing five years
of test directing for unmanned

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and man tests here at NASA.

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>> And what kind of
degree do you have?

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>> I have an aerospace
engineering degree

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from West Point.

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And I spent six years
in the military

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after that before coming
here to start working.

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>> Thank you very much, Joel.

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>> Thank you.

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>> Joel Manganza and we
are here in billing 32 back