NASA is revealing a prototype of its latest Artemis Moon Suit via a live-streamed video today, March 15. Hosted by Axiom Space, the vendor NASA chose to build the suits, the event is taking place at Houston, Texas’ Space Center and will feature astronauts from both NASA and Axiom Space as well as a live demonstration of the suit (officially dubbed the Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit, or xEMU for short) and a Q and A session.
In September 2022, Axiom Space signed a $228.5M USD deal with NASA to design, produce and test updated space suits in time for NASA’s Artemis 3 mission to the moon, which is currently scheduled for late 2025. Artemis 3 will be the first time the US has sent a man to the moon in over 50 years — the last manned spaceflight to the moon was Apollo 17, which took place in December 1972.
Though the suits will be debuted to the public today, there’s no guarantee that they’ll actually be ready for flight by 2025, as NASA’s Office of Inspector General has already noted there may be suit delays. Axiom Space isn’t the only company assisting in the return of man to the moon: SpaceX is providing the transportation with its Starship rocket, which will serve as both the launch craft and the lunar lander.
Watch the livestream in full above, and for more interstellar news check out highlights from the SpaceX crew’s recent five-month trip to outer space.
