NASA Unveils New Spacesuits for Astronauts' Return to the Moon

NASA unveiled a new spacesuit for its astronauts to use on their return to the moon to support them in conducting experiments on the lunar surface.

The space agency's novel design comes with specialist features and is said to be a better fit for female space travelers than men. NASA hopes to have the new spacesuits ready for the Artemis III mission scheduled to go to the moon in 2025.

NASA Unveils New Spacesuits

The current spacesuits that United States astronauts use in going into space have not received any full redesigns since 1981. When the space agency announced that humanity could return to the lunar surface after more than 50 years, they also promised to send the first woman and person of color to the moon.

However, previous plans to send female astronauts to space have been blocked by a lack of spacesuits in their size. As per BBC, having a well-fitting suit is crucial to an astronaut's work to prevent excessive fatigue and, worst, physical injury.

NASA planned in 2019 to send a team filled with female astronauts to complete a space walk from the International Space Station. However, only a few days before Anne McClain and Christina Koch were scheduled to depart on the walk, the space agency realized that they needed to have two spacesuits in the proper size for the two women, which resulted in McClain being replaced by colleague Nick Hague.

Now, the space agency believes that the newly revealed design will overcome these issues and meet some of the challenges posed by the Artemis III mission to the moon. The most crucial requirement of a spacesuit is to provide oxygen to the astronaut, allowing them to survive in the near-vacuum of space.

This aspect requires a meticulous design because failure would rapidly expand an astronaut's lung, causing death. In a statement, the manager of NASA's spacesuit and rovers team, Lara Kearney, said they had many tough requirements for the new suit.

Returning to Lunar Surface

NASA's Associate Administrator, Robert D. Cabana, was the one that said the space agency was developing a new spacesuit for a new generation. According to the New York Times, the new suits come from Axiom Space in Houston.

It is the latest time that the space agency has turned to a private company or commercial space enterprise to provide crucial components faster and much cheaper than it could do so by itself. It follows the same decision that NASA made to hire Elon Musk's SpaceX to bring astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

Axiom Space said that the ones that NASA unveiled were prototypes but assured that it would deliver spacesuits that can be used for astronaut training by late summer. The new design is a black-colored spacesuit with blue and orange detailing. In a news release, the company said that these suits were covered with an extra layer that bore the company's colors and logo for display purposes, said CNN.