NASA awarded contracts to two companies to develop the next generation of spacesuits for missions to the International Space Station and the Moon.
The winners of the Extravehicular Activity Services (xEVAS) Contract were Collins Aerospace, which is working on a private space station, and Axiom Space, which organizes commercial flights to the International Space Station.
When we get to the Moon, history will be made with the suits. The director of the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston told reporters that they will have the first person of color and the first woman in space.
The combined ceiling of the contracts is $3.5 billion through 2034.
NASA could pick one of the companies or add more later.
The technical standards for the suits were laid out by experts at the US space agency, with the companies responsible for designing, certifying and producing the suits as well as support equipment for both the Artemis missions to return to the Moon.
The existing spacesuit has been the workhorse for the agency for 40 years, according to Dina Contella, operations integration manager.
The next generation will be more versatile.
NASA wanted to build the suits itself, but began transitioning to industry partners after the agency's auditor said the suit was facing significant development delays.
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