Presenting Space Couture: NASA Debuts Its Revamped Spacesuit for Moon Missions
The oversized puffer look might still be in fashion on Earth, but it’s out of style on the Moon. NASA has just unveiled the new and improved version of the spacesuit, and it’s as close to space couture as we humans are going to get for now.
The revamped spacesuit prototype, dubbed the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU), was created by Axiom Space for NASA’s next Moon mission—the Artemis III program, which will bring humans to the Moon’s South Pole for the first time.
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The new iteration of the spacesuit is sleeker and slimmer than the old suit, but its practical value holds far more weight than its aesthetic. In terms of pragmatism, the 2023 spacesuit already beats the old suit by a mile.
“Working against [the old] suit was demanding. Squeezing the gloves, moving the arms, trying to bend over—It was exhausting,” said astronaut Charlie Duke, the tenth man to walk on the moon, to BBC.
In response to the old suit’s problems, the revamped version by Axiom Space offers more mobility to make it easier to do tasks in space. The helmet also offers greater visibility, the boots are thermally insulated, and most importantly, this is the first spacesuit in human history to be designed to fit a woman. Because come 2025, the Artemis III mission will finally put a woman on the Moon for the first time.
The dark gray look of the suit is only temporary as the final suit will be white, the best color for heat protection and reflecting sunlight. NASA tapped Axiom Space to create the modern suit.
