Photo of the Day 281

Spacesuit, Houston, Texas, 2007

Photograph by Mark Thiessen

A spacesuit is put through its paces at the Johnson Space Center's Lunar Yard in Houston, Texas. The 2-acre (0.8-hectare) mock moon surface, made of sand and crushed granite, allows engineers to test systems and concepts as they prepare for NASA's return to the moon.

(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Space Age Turns Fifty," October 2007, National Geographic magazine)