NASA has tapped two private American companies to develop the next spacesuits for moonwalking, spacewalking and beyond.
The current spacesuits used on the ISS, known as EMUs, were first developed for the space shuttle program and haven't had a significant update in decades. NASA's next-generation spacesuits called the xEMU are currently under development.
The current EMUs consist of a bottom half for the legs and an upper torso which start in size medium and go up, but the suits are not customized to an astronaut's body type. This became a problem in 2019 when there were not enough smaller EMU tops on the ISS to fit astronauts Anne McClain and Christina Koch for the first all-female spacewalk. NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Koch would later complete the historic spacewalk in October 2019.
NASA plans to land the first woman on the moon under the Artemis program. Burbank said the goal is to support the entire spectrum of crew members on a mission. According to an Axiom Space post, the suits will be known as AxEMUs. The company has created a patch to reflect the history of extravehicular activities.
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