Answer: They both wear suits to work! But for Phil West, the suit IS his work.

Phil West began working at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in 1984 as a co-op student from Purdue University. When he graduated in 1988 he became a member of the Crew and Thermal Systems Division at the center, where he focused on Extravehicular Activity (EVA), or "spacewalk" hardware. That year, he was the lead engineer for testing NASA’s high pressure space suits to develop a next-generation space suit for orbital use. Currently, Phil manages a team that designs and builds tools for use by space-walking astronauts outside the International Space Station.

Phil has been a test subject himself in NASA’s zero gravity aircraft and neutral buoyancy facilities, and in air-bearing floor and vacuum chamber facilities. These experiences gave him a new perspective on the spacesuits and EVA tools he and his team are designing.

In the photo above, Phil is doing a live broadcast from NASA's KC-135, otherwise known as the "Vomit Comet." Phil and his team were testing spacesuits in the equivalent of Martian gravity last July. By flying the plane in parabolic paths, the crew can simulate different degrees of gravity, in this case about .38g (the same as you would feel on Mars). Hopping down the floor behind Phil is Dom DelRosso in the Advanced Spacesuit Technology Demonstrator, while Phil explains the test to earthbound educators and the public as the aircraft flew high over the Gulf of Mexico.

Whenever Phil makes one of his many appearances to student or parent groups, he emphasizes that NASA engineers and scientists apply their training in math, science, and other disciplines to spacesuits and tools!

Email: philip.r.west1@jsc.nasa.gov