The spacesuit prototype that will be worn by American astronauts on their upcoming voyage to the moon has been presented by Axiom Space. Axiom Space created and produced the new suit. Shortly, it will lease this new suit to NASA as a “rental,” in contrast to the suits worn by Apollo astronauts. As per Mike Suffredini, president and CEO of Axiom Space, the Artemis III spacesuit will make it possible for humans to work safely and productively on the moon. This is despite the difficult conditions of the lunar south pole.
Axiom was given a $228.5 million task order as part of a $1.26 billion deal. The money was for the construction of NASA’s newest spacesuits to enable the Artemis lunar missions in 2022. The new Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU) spacesuit utilizes the xEMU. This is a suit created by NASA’s engineers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. It provides improved protection against the harsh environment and increased flexibility. In addition, it has specialized equipment to achieve exploration needs and expand scientific potential.
With the cutting-edge technologies of AxEMU, Axiom believes that more of the lunar surface can be explored than ever before. NASA astronauts’ spacesuits will have a white outer covering. The function is to reflect heat and shield the wearer from extremely high temperatures when in direct sunshine. The alternate Apollo history series “For All Mankind” on Apple TV+ brought costume designer Esther Marquis on board to work on the prototype’s unique cover layer.
NASA plans to place the first American woman and the second American to walk on the moon aboard Artemis III. The launch date for this is December 2025. Future Artemis flights will carry astronauts from other partner nations. This does include those from Japan and the European Space Agency member states, as well as the first person of color. The AxEMU was built from the ground up to handle a wide variety of crew members. This was to provide NASA with the commercially produced human systems required. The human systems are required to access, live, and conduct business on and around the moon,
For the development of the AxEMU, Axiom Space collaborated with a group of business specialists. This included KBR, Sophic Synergistics, Air-Lock, David Clark Company, Arrow Science and Technology, Paragon Space Development Corporation, and A-P-T Research. Axiom has prepared privately funded personnel to launch to and reside on the International Space Station. In addition, it is building its own for profit space station. But this is the first pressurized garment the business has produced for usage in space, let alone on the moon.
“With our team’s expertise, NASA can count on being supplied with the next-generation spacesuit,” said Mark Greeley. Mark is Axiom Space’s extravehicular activity (EVA) program manager. “We carefully evaluated the years’ worth of lessons gained by NASA. Drawing upon that experience, we created a spacesuit for both lunar missions and for our future customers at Axiom Space.” Axiom Space will also train NASA’s systems personnel and assist in real-time operations.