NASA’s new spacesuits will be worn on the Artemis mission, which plans to return humans to the moon by the end of 2025.
Moonwalking American astronauts of the future will have slimmer and more flexible spacesuits as NASA moves away from the puffy white suits worn by Neil Armstrong and his fellow Apollo astronauts half a century ago.
The United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on Wednesday unveiled the first prototype for a redesigned next-generation space suit, custom-tailored and equipped with accessories for the first astronauts expected to fly to space in the coming years. surface of the moon will return.
The future moon gear was on display at the Johnson Space Center in Houston at an event hosted by Axiom Space for the media and students. NASA awarded the Texas-based company a $228.5 million contract to build suits Artemis – the successor to the Apollo Moon program.
The Artemis program aims to return humans to the moon by the end of 2025 for the first time since the historic Apollo missions in 1972, a first step towards an eventual journey to Mars.
The new suits, branded by Axiom as the “Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit” or AxEMU for short, are more streamlined and flexible than the old Apollo suits, with greater range of motion and variability in size and fit.
The pressurized garment has multiple layers of protection, a backpack with life support systems, lights and a high-definition video camera mounted on top of the spherical helmet.
The next-generation spacesuit. @NASA selected @Axiom_Space to develop the suits for the Artemis III mission to the lunar surface. The first prototype was unveiled today at an event at Space Center Houston in Texas. pic.twitter.com/icFDxv60IU
— NASA’s Johnson Space Center (@NASA_Johnson) March 15, 2023
The “next-generation spacesuits will not only enable the first woman to walk on the moon, but they will also open up opportunities for more people to explore the moon and do science than ever before,” NASA administrator said. Bill Nelson.
NASA said in a rack that the new suits would be tested in a “space-like environment” prior to their use for the lunar mission.
“In this box are all the parts and components to keep you alive,” Russell Ralston, deputy program manager for extravehicular activity at Axiom Space, said of the suit’s “portable life support system.”
“You can think of it as a really nice scuba tank and air conditioner combined into one,” Ralston said.
The new suits are designed to be worn for up to eight hours at a time and fit a wide range of potential wearers, accommodating at least 90 percent of the U.S. male and female population, NASA said.
However, the exact appearance of the suits remained a closely guarded trade secret. Those on display on Wednesday came with an outer shell that was charcoal gray with dashes of orange and blue, as well as the Axiom logo on the chest – intended to obscure Axiom’s own design of the outer fabric.
The company said the suits worn by astronauts on the moon’s south pole will be white, as that is the best color to reflect the bright sunlight on the lunar surface and protect the wearer from extreme heat.
Vanessa Wyche, the director of the Johnson Space Center, said the new suit has “more functionality, more performance, more capability” than the bulky version worn by Apollo astronauts.
“We haven’t had a new suit since the suits we designed for the space shuttle and those suits are currently being used on the space station,” said Wyche.
“So for 40 years we’ve been using the same suit based on that technology.”
Artemis III will land Americans on the surface of the moon for the first time in more than 50 years.
Thanks to the expert teams from NASA, Axiom, and industry for your hard work. It was an exciting event.Watch the broadcast here: https://t.co/y81jrADDV4#GiantLeapsStartHere pic.twitter.com/tJtJZEXG72
— Vanessa Wyche (@v_wyche) March 15, 2023
Axiom said it worked with costume designer Ester Marquis of the Apple TV+ moon series For All Mankind to create the custom cover layer featuring Axiom’s logo and brand colors.
