Video: Evaluating Radiation Protection Plans for Astronauts

NASA's Orion spacecraft will one day take astronauts out into deep space. Until that time, engineers, astronauts and designers are conducting testing in a representative model of the Orion spacecraft at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Most recently, designers of the Orion capsule are testing their plan for encountering radiation out in space. 

In the case of a radiation incident, astronauts aboard the capsule would take shelter in the central part of the crew module and create a fort around them using their supplies, held inside stowage bags, to essentially create a giant pillow fort. The more mass surrounding the astronauts, the less likely solar particles are able to travel through to them.

To watch the test below, check out the video below from NASA: