When NASA astronauts finally start exploring the lunar South Pole for the Artemis III mission, they’ll be doing so clad in the stylish spacesuits designed by Axiom, the Houston-based company behind plans to build a space hotel and plans to build a commercial space station, as we’ve noted before.
Although the Axiom hotel and space station are still percolating, on Wednesday at the Johnson Space Center NASA debuted the prototype of the spacesuit Axiom has cooked up after NASA opted to turn to the commercial space sector to get this new suit—and the system that goes with it—created. NASA ultimately chose Axiom to create these suits as part of a new moon walking system dubbed the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson had plenty of praise for the company. “NASA’s partnership with Axiom is critical to landing astronauts on the Moon and continuing American leadership in space. Building on NASA’s years of research and expertise, Axiom’s next generation spacesuits will not only enable the first woman to walk on the Moon, but they will also open opportunities for more people to explore and conduct science on the Moon than ever before,” Nelson said, according to a release.
These suits are going to be all about Axiom, the company founded by Michael Suffredini, who previously headed up the International Space Station from the JSC. Axiom Space is responsible for the design, development, qualification, certification, and production of flight training spacesuits and support equipment, including tools, to enable the Artemis III mission, currently slated to start putting boots back on the moon in 2025. The company will test the suit in a spacelike environment prior to the mission. However, NASA maintains the authority for astronaut training, mission planning, and approval of the service systems.
Working with the federal space agency’s own Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit, Axiom officials drew on NASA’s in-house knowledge, including advancements in technology, training, astronaut feedback on comfort and maneuverability, and compatibility with other NASA systems, to build on.
Admittedly, it doesn’t look much different from the current spacesuits. It appears to be a slightly more sleek-lined version of the ones already in use today. (Although the prototype is black and orange, the final version of the suit is expected to be white.)
The suit will be an enhancement of NASA’s own prototype developments. But it will feature enhanced mobility—for all the moon walking—and added protection to deal with any moon-specific hazards. And when this thing finally gets put to use on the lunar surface, it will be sported by the first woman to walk on the moon, whoever she may be.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2023.
