Now we know what NASA’s next moonwalkers will be wearing.
NASA announced Wednesday (Sept. 7) that it had selected the Houston company Axiom Space build a bear spacesuits For Artemis 3, a mission that aims to land astronauts on the Moon’s south pole in 2025 or 2026.
Artemis 3 after the final, he will land on the moon with the first crew Apollo Flight in 1972, if all goes according to plan. And NASA intends to return with its work Artemis programEstablishing a manned outpost on Earth’s nearest neighbor by the end of the 2020s.
Related: The evolution of the spacesuit in pictures
“NASA is proud to partner with commercial industry on this historic mission that will begin to establish a permanent presence on the surface of the United States. month,” Lara Kearney, manager of NASA’s Extravehicular Activity and Human Surface Mobility program, said in the statement (opens in new tab).
“What we learned on Artemis 3 and future missions on and around the Moon will pave the way for missions. marsKearney added. “Spacesuits allow us to literally take the next step.”
In June this year NASA announced He said he chose Axiom and a team led by Collins Aerospace to design and build spacesuits for future missions to the moon and the planet. International Space Station. The two private teams have earned the right to compete for a total of $3.5 billion through 2034.
This money will be paid in a series of “task orders”. The newly announced Artemis 3 award is one such order and has a base value of $228.5 million.
“Using more than 50 years of spacesuit experience, NASA has defined the technical and safety requirements for the next generation of spacesuits. Axiom Space will be responsible for the design, development, qualification, certification, and production of the spacesuits and ancillary equipment that will meet these. Key organizational requirements for Artemis 3 agency officials said in a statement on Wednesday.
“NASA experts will retain authority over astronaut training, mission planning and service systems validation,” they said. “Axiom Space will be required to test the suits in a space-like environment before Artemis 3.”
NASA officials said the future mission order would include subsequent crewed Artemis missions.
NASA has yet to launch any Artemis missions, but that should change soon. The agency is preparing for the next launch attempt Artemis 1will send the agency’s Orion capsule to an unmanned lunar orbit and back.
NASA attempted to launch Artemis 1 in August. 29 and September 3 but deleted both attempts due to technical problems. The agency has not yet announced a target date for the next test.
Mike Wall is the author of “there (opens in new tab)” (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Carl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter. @michaeldwall (opens in new tab). follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or Facebook (opens in new tab).
