Why is this chap dressed in an X-Wing fighter pilot suit, and sounding short of breath?

Because he’s in Chihuahua Mexico’s famous Cueva de los Cristales (Cave of Crystals) with a film crew doing a bit for BBC’s How The Earth Made Us series. Deep in the Naica mine, home of the cueva featuring the largest natural crystals ever found, there’s virtually 100% humidity- so the suit is actually a cooling unit equipped with a breathing system that feeds cool, dry air into a mask (your lungs). Go without the mask for longer than 10 or so minutes and you’re a goner- slip and fall deep into the crystal mine and it’d take a miracle to rescue you. The whole camera, lighting & production crew had to use these suits, while heart rates climbed to 180 upon exit. The result was some priceless footage of what geologists deem to be the most extraordinary discovery of its kind. Read more about it here.

Figured since they risked their butts to grab some closeups of mother earth’s deep inner beauty that I’d repost -hXc