a NASA (USA) Inc Axiom Space Unveiled this Wednesday (14), at an event in Houston, a preview of the spacesuit used by the astronauts on the Artemis III mission.
Artemis III, NASA’s first human mission to the lunar south pole, is planned for 2025 and will mark humanity’s first return to the lunar surface in more than 50 years.
The spacesuit is known as AxEMU (Axion Extravehicular Mobility Unit) and is based on NASA’s xEMU suit concept, which was primarily designed for use on the lunar surface.
To prepare the mission suit, NASA and Axiom Space will fit the special suit and evaluate it through tests at the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory at Johnson Space Center in Houston, where a 40-foot-deep pool has been transformed into a lunar landscape.
Unlike other suits already made by NASA, the current suit for the Artemis III mission will not be black. It is covered with gray fabric to mask a white material that reflects heat and protects astronauts from freezing temperatures.
Few technical details were given, but NASA stated that “the AxEMU has the range of motion and flexibility necessary to further explore the lunar landscape. In addition, the technical suit has a more comprehensive proposal: it must fit a wide range of crew, accommodating at least 90 % of American females and males.”
The special suit is also the first one designed specifically to fit a woman, according to Peggy Whitson, director of human spaceflight for Axiom and a former NASA astronaut. The Artemis III mission plans to put the first woman on the moon.
The suit is also designed to resist damage from lunar dust, which has troubled astronauts on previous missions.
