Here it is- The New Moonsuit!
NASA and its contractor say the suit will be ready in 2025
The clock is ticking for American astronauts to land on the Moon again. NASA hopes the Artemis III mission will make it to the lunar surface in December 2025. That’s nearly two and a half years away. Sound like a lot of time? It’s not, with all the work that must be done, including building a new moonsuit.
NASA and its surface suit contractor, Axiom, revealed the new xEVA (Exploration Extravehicular Activity) suit with one of the company’s engineers inside. The suit appears much more flexible for astronauts. The spacesuit that was revealed did not include its “NASA” outer protection shell. That exterior layer will be white to reflect heat from the Sun, similar to the Apollo suits.
NEW LOOK
But there is a different look to this suit. There are several reasons for those changes. Axiom even got a bit of help in designing the look from a Hollywood costume designer who worked on the Apple TV show, “For All Mankind.”
One of the biggest changes from previous US spacesuits is that this is a rear-entry garment with two hinges and a hatch. Both the Apollo suits and those on the International Space Station (ISS) are entered from the waist and connect to the lower part of the suit. Russia and China use rear-entry for their suits. Axiom says it hopes that an astronaut will be able to don and close a spacesuit on their own. “This hatch would open up. You would put your feet in and then we would close the hatch. Mounted to the hatches, this box, affectionately known as backpack. We call it the portable life support system,” Ralston said during the demonstration.
NEW REAR ENTRY DESIGN
The Axiom xEVA includes lights and a built-in camera. While an astronaut enters from that rear-hatch, the torso is a hard shell that serves as a foundation. “This is kind of the core structure of the suit and what we attach everything to, the arms, the backpack… this really just provides a structure to mount things to. Each of the arms have a variety of mobility joints,” Axiom’s Russell Ralston explained during the reveal event.
It has been a bumpy road getting to this point. NASA took research in-house for several years and was criticized for the program’s cost and progress. The space agency shifted gears and decided to handle spacesuits a bit like a wedding tuxedo. The contractor is now responsible for building and servicing the suits. NASA will pay to use the suits. This contract is $230 million.
STAYING WARM ON SOUTH POLE
These suits will be tested severely on the first mission. NASA wants to go to the Moon’s south pole. “We have a lot of tough requirements on it. So these guys have their work cut out for them. The moon is definitely a hostile place. The South Pole is going to really be a challenge. So [there are] a lot of thermal requirements,” NASA’s Lara Kearney told reporters.
Ralston admitted the boots are critical and have to be heavily insulated for the lunar south pole temperatures. In 2021, NASA’s Inspector General pointed out the trouble the space agency was having with boot development. When NASA signed contracts with its spacesuit contractors, it shared all of its work and research.
Axiom’s CEO, Mike Suffredini, told reporters, “when all is said and done about 50% of the suit will be based on the original designs done by NASA and the other 50% will be the work of this team.” That Axiom team is headed by Mark Greeley who says the pressure garment, “the entire soft suit,” are an Axiom design as well as the gloves (I talked with Greeley about this suit last year. You can watch that interview on YouTube).
SEPARATE SPACE STATION SUIT
Axiom plans to build a private space station and will use this design for its spacesuit for EVAs in space. NASA will be using a different suit on its space stations. The second contract for spacesuits went to Collins Aerospace. Even SpaceX is building a new suit for EVAs.
HOLLYWOOD STYLE
The Axiom design that was unveiled at NASA’s Houston Space Center had some Hollywood help. Esther Marquis is a costume designer who came up with a new suit design for the fourth season of “For All Mankind.” She got a call from the space company. “When Axiom contacted me I was sort of astounded. But I also felt really comfortable. I'm like well, you know, I've walked this path before and I'm interested in having a shot at it,” Marquis told me.
Marquis, while working on the TV show, came up with a design and submitted it to Axiom. “Axiom went for it, which was wonderful. I was certainly taken aback. I remember that day I was sort of breathless,” she said.
The look of the suit may change as it is developed. There is a chance that the costume designer could see some of her work go to the Moon. “I'm really happy about that. It makes me really happy. Like, great!”
I grew up in the 70’s and love the nostalgia of that era. Let’s bring it back.
I've been intensely interested in the ILC Dover suits, their history, and the seamstresses who made them.. When did ILC Dover stop being the contractor for NASA's suits?