The astronaut would leave his vehicle in a space suit, climb inside the plastic bag, and then fill it with foam.

Ten astronauts have left the space agency since seven colleagues were killed last year in the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger.

This would enable astronauts to leave the station in the event the space shuttle is unable to bring them back to Earth.

The instruments were designed to run autonomously after the astronauts left and to make long term studies of the lunar environment.

The last astronaut left the ship about 50 minutes after engine failure cut the launching short.

The astronauts left in the same jet a day later.

The seismometers the astronauts had left on the lunar surface registered the vibrations for more than an hour.

Then the six astronauts left the freighter and closed the hatch behind them.

But when the astronauts left the moon, it was only in the ascent section.

Some astronauts, discouraged about their prospects of venturing into space, have left the program.