Space-Walking in Rocket Shoes

You know that scene at the end of the Martian where Matt Damon pokes a hole in his glove and uses the force the escaping gas to rendezvous with his crew like he’s Ironman? NASA considered something similar, but instead of a hole in the suit, the agency wanted to use jet-powered shoes.

Jet Shoes in a test run. NASA.

The Need

In the early years of human space exploration, there were a lot of unknowns, and the…