It's been 50 years since humans first walked on the moon. Since then, astronauts have primarily explored low Earth orbit. Now that NASA is preparing to return to the moon, experts are reevaluating the practicality of the spacesuit.

Ana Diaz Artiles, assistant professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University, and graduate student Logan Kluis have been working on developments for the SmartSuit, a new spacesuit architecture that would create a safer and better spacesuit environment for Extravehicular Activity (EVA) on planetary surfaces.

The SmartSuit is a spacesuit architecture proposed by Diaz Artiles that focuses on three key improvements to the current suit design; increased mobility, enhanced safety and informed interaction between the environment and the astronaut. Most recently, Diaz Artiles and Kluis, in collaboration with Robert Shepherd, associate professor at Cornell University, have been developing prototypes of soft-robotics assistive actuators for the knee joints.

"The current spacesuit has been designed for microgravity conditions; in these conditions, astronauts don't need to walk or move around using their lower body, they typically translate themselves using their upper body," said Diaz Artiles.

The United States announced a commitment to stop testing anti-satellite missiles that generate dangerous debris in space, a measure described Tuesday as "an important step" by the head of NASA.

The United States, the first country to make such a pledge, has encouraged other nations to follow its lead, with the goal of establishing "a new international norm for responsible behavior in space," the White House said in a statement.

"This is especially important as there is an ever-increasing number of states and non-governmental entities that rely on space services and space assets which are vulnerable to debris," it added.

The announcement comes five months after Russia destroyed one of its own satellites in a missile test that created a cloud of debris and forced the seven crew on the International Space Station to temporarily take shelter in their return ships.

Washington denounced the strike as "dangerous and irresponsible."

Russia and the United States are among the small handful of nations that possess the high-tech anti-satellite weapons known as ASATs. The missiles have also been used by China and India.