The large, puffy white suits worn by astronaut Neil Armstrong and his colleagues on their trip to the moon as part of the Apollo program half a century ago have become obsolete. Modern astronaut clothing requires body-contouring designs that fit both men and women.
And the US Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) unveiled the first model of a newly designed space suit, specifically for the first mission of astronauts who are expected to go to the moon in the next few years.
The latest moon suit design was shown at Johnson Space Center in Houston, USA, at an event for media and students hosted by Texas-based Axiom Space, which was commissioned by NASA to make the suits for astronauts participating in the Apollo moon successor program Artemis.
In December, the Artemis 1 mission, the first launch of NASA's powerful new rocket and newly built Orion spacecraft, ended successfully in an uncrewed test flight that circled the moon and returned. NASA and the Canadian Space Agency intend to announce on April 3 the four astronauts selected for the Artemis 2 mission, which will launch as soon as next year, and will also be a mission to orbit the moon and then return to Earth.
If successful, that flight would pave the way for sending the Artemis 3 mission, during which astronauts will land on the surface of the moon and will be the first ever trip to its south pole, scheduled to be launched later this decade, and it will also be the first to send a woman to walk on the surface of the moon.
Suit specification
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said the new astronaut suits "will provide opportunities for more people to explore and conduct scientific studies on the lunar surface than ever before."
The new suits, which will be worn by the Artemis astronauts, will look very different from the previous thicker suits.
The new suits are modern, more streamlined and flexible than those worn by the astronauts in the Apollo missions, and allow more room for movement and vary in size.
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