The OIG released today (Aug. 10) an audit that showed NASA won't achieve its 2024 lunar landing goal due to delays in spacesuit development. Kristine Davis (a NASA Johnson Space Center spacesuit engineer) is shown in this photo wearing a prototype ground of NASA's new Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU). The suit was demonstrated at NASA Headquarters in Washington on Tuesday, October 15, 2019.NASA is unable to land humans on the Moon by its hopeful deadline of 2024 due to delays in spacesuit design, according to a new report from OIG.This new report, released by the OIG's Office of Audits on Tuesday, August 10, shows that NASA's Inspector General audited the agency’s next-generation spacesuit development, the Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU). NASA has created the suits for use in the agency's Artemis program, which NASA claims will bring humans back to the moon by 2024. This evaluation shows that this timeline is not only unlikely but impossible.The audit states that NASA's current schedule calls for the production of the first two flight-ready EMUs by November 2024. However, the agency faces serious challenges in achieving this goal. It adds that, due to delays in spacesuit design, a lunar landing in the late 2024 timeframe as NASA is currently planning is impossible.Related: Pictures of the evolution of the spacesuitThe OIG performed the audit because "The development and maintenance of spacesuits is a key component in achieving NASA's goals to return humans to the moon, continue safe operations on the International Space Station (ISS), as well as exploring Mars and other deep-space locations," according the report. The audit saw inspectors examine the progress NASA has made in addressing the challenges of cost, schedule, performance, and safety for the next-generation spacesuit system.The spacesuits that astronauts use to rotate on the station's orbit are designed for NASA's Space Shuttle program 45 years ago. NASA must develop new suits to ensure safety and efficiency for future space missions, audit notes. This is why NASA has been working on the next-generation replacement for 14 years.NASA's ambitious plans for the moon could be put on hold by unforeseen obstacles in developing these suits. One of those hurdles is budget."Despite spending almost $200 million over the nine-year span, NASA still hasn't developed a spacesuit that is flight-ready for use on exploration missions." The audit states that NASA has spent $220 million more on spacesuit development since our 2017 report. This totals $420 million.NASA plans to spend $625.2 million more on the development of these suits to bring the total to over $1B. However, the OIG believes that NASA is unable to meet its current optimistic schedule for a 2024 lunar landing.The audit revealed that there was a significant delay of around 20 months in the design, verification, and testing of the suits. It also included two "qualification suits", a demonstration suit for NASA's space station, and two suits for lunar flight.Continue reading: NASA selects SpaceX's Starship for landing Artemis astronauts onto the moonAmy Ross, a NASA spacesuit engineer, is left. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine is second from the left. Kristine Davis (NASAs Johnson Space Center) watches as Dustin Gohmert (Orion Crew Survival Systems Project Manager at NASAs Johnson Space Center), waves after being introduced to the administrator. This was Tuesday, October 15, 2019, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. (Image credit NASA/Joel KowskyThe report states that "these delays due to funding shortfalls and COVID-19 effects have left no schedule margins for delivery of two flight-ready EMUs." After analyzing suit development at Johnson Space Center, Texas, and Marshall Space Flight Center, Alabama, and reviewing NASA finances, program planning, budgeting, and other factors, the audit concluded that the suits wouldn't be ready for flight by April 2025 at earliest.The audit also stated that NASA would have spent more than a billion dollars by the time it has two flight-ready EMUs available to develop and assemble its next-generation spacesuits.According to the report, launching a mission on the moon is not possible until the suits are in place. These suits will be required by the agency to be ready for crewed missions well in advance so that astronauts can train with them for Artemis missions as well as for other NASA programs.Moving forwardThe OIG presented four recommendations as part of the audit to NASA's Associate Administrator for the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate. Kathy Lueders is currently Kathy Lueders.According to the report, these recommendations recommend that NASA adjust its schedule in order to land humans on the Moon "as appropriate and reduce development risks", that it develop a master calendar for all its programs (like Gateway and Artemis), that it establish a master schedule for all its programs (like ISS, ISS, and more), that it finalize all technical requirements for its suits before moving forward, and that it develop an "acquisition strategy for the suits" that meets both Artemis and ISS program needs.This audit shows that even though NASA has spent over $1 billion on these spacesuits, there are still too many delays and obstacles. NASA will not be able to reach its 2024 moon landing goal.SpaceX founder Elon Musk made a comment about the OIG audit, sparking discussions about a possible collaboration between NASA and SpaceX. Musk responded to Michael Sheetz's social media post about the OIG audit and tweeted, "SpaceX could do that if necessary."SpaceX could make it happen if necessaryAugust 10, 2021. See moreIt is not clear what "it" means in this case, but it does show Musk's willingness to collaborate with NASA on the development of its next-generation spacesuits.This is not the first hint of commercial collaboration for NASA's EMUs. The agency issued a request to information (RFI), in April. It revealed that it wanted feedback from the space industry on a strategy for working with commercial partners on programs that include spacesuits.The RFI outlines that NASA's new strategy would see it "shifting acquisitions of exploration extravehicular activities (xEVA), to a model where NASA will buy spacesuit services from partners rather than building them in house with traditional government contracts," according to the statement.Chelsea Gohd can be reached at cgohd@space.com. 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