Israeli protective vest to be tested on Orion spacecraft

The AstroRad radiation protection vest designed by Tel Aviv-based StemRad will be worn by a mannequin on NASA’s test flight of its unmanned Orion spacecraft, according to an agreement signed by NASA Acting Administrator Robert Lightfoot and Israel Space Agency Director Avi Blasberger during the 34th Space Symposium in Colorado last month. Sometime next year, Orion will launch on the most powerful rocket in the world and fly farther than any spacecraft built for humans has ever flown. It will travel 280,000 miles from Earth, thousands of miles beyond the moon over the course of about a three-week mission, and return home faster and hotter than ever before.