This week, while astronauts orbited high above Earth
installing new science equipment in the laboratories of
the International Space Station, a team of
terranauts descended into the Earth on their own
mission of discovery. "We were not in outer space, but
inner space," says explorer George Kourounis, who sends
this picture from the
Cave of Crystals in
Naica, Mexico:
unbearable heat. "With an air temperature of 122 F and a
relative humidity of more than 90%, it feels like 228 F
in the cave," says Kourounis. "To survive in this
extreme environment, we enter the cave wearing special
suits with cooling packs inside and a backpack
respirator which allows us to breath chilled air. Even
with all this equipment, I will still be able to stay in
the cave for no more than 45 minutes at a time."
Unprotected, even a scant 10 minutes could prove
fatal--and that is why this amazing cavern discovered by
miners nine years ago remains relatively unexplored. "Some
of the crystals are 11 meters long and weigh as much as
55 tons," marvels Kourounis. "We had to be extremely
cautious not to slip and fall. Doing so could get you
impaled."
"Wearing the suit," he adds, "you feel like an
astronaut who is about to go on a space walk." Make that
an inner space walk.
Click here for more
pictures and anecdotes from the Cave of Crystals.
Source:
Spaceweather.com
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