NASA awards Axiom Space $228.5M contract for first Artemis spacesuits

NASA has awarded US company Axiom Space a $228.8 million contract to design and manufacture a next generation Artemis spacesuit and supporting systems, and to demonstrate their use on the lunar surface during the Artemis III mission.

This mission, scheduled for 2024, will land Americans on the surface of the Moon for the first time in over 50 years. As part of its planned human lunar spaceflight missions, NASA will land the first woman and first person of colour on the Moon.

After reviewing proposals from its two eligible spacesuit vendors (Collins Aerospace is the other), NASA selected Axiom Space for the task order. A future task order will be competed for recurring spacesuit services to support subsequent Artemis missions.

“NASA is proud to partner with commercial industry on this historic mission that will kickstart the United States building a lasting presence on the surface of the Moon,” said Lara Kearney, manager of NASA’s Extravehicular Activity and Human Surface Mobility Program (EHP). “What we learn on Artemis III and future missions on and around the Moon will pave the way for missions to Mars. Spacesuits enable us to literally take that next step.”

Using more than 50 years of spacesuit expertise, NASA 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 its spacesuits and support equipment that will meet these key agency requirements for Artemis III.

NASA experts will maintain the authority for astronaut training, mission planning, and approval of the service systems. Axiom Space will be required to test the suits in a spacelike environment before Artemis III.

Future task orders under the contract will consist of recurring lunar landings, the development of spacesuits for use in low-Earth orbit outside the International Space Station, and special studies. The agency is currently evaluating task order options for space station spacesuits.

The spacesuits contract, which will advance spacewalking capabilities in low-Earth orbit and on the Moon, is managed by NASA’s EHP at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.