NASA desperately needs new spacesuits; private companies are struggling to make them

Nearly two years ago, in preparation for the next generation of human spaceflight, NASA hired two private companies to design and develop new spacesuits that would enable astronauts to not only perform spacewalks outside the International Space Station, but also walk on the surface of the moon as part of the Artemis program.

Now, the plan appears to be in trouble: Ars has learned that one of the spacesuit suppliers, Collins Aerospace, is planning to pull out, which is a blow to NASA, because the space agency badly needs modern spacesuits.

NASA's Apollo-era spacesuits are long since retired; the ones currently used for spacewalks in low Earth orbit are 40 years old. “These new capabilities will enable us to continue our stay on the ISS and even carry out our Artemis missions to Mars,” Johnson Space Center director Vanessa Wyche said at a celebratory news conference in Houston two years ago.

The two winning teams were led by Collins Aerospace and Axiom Space, respectively. Both teams were eligible for task orders worth up to $3.5 billion, essentially letting NASA loan the suits out for decades. Since then, NASA has assigned Axiom to develop spacesuits primarily for the Moon and Artemis missions, and Collins to develop suits for on-orbit tasks like servicing the space station.

Collins exits

But this week, Collins announced it would likely end its participation in the Exploration Extravehicular Activity Services (xEVAS) contract. On Tuesday morning, Collins Aerospace General Manager Chris Ayers met with employees to inform them that the company was withdrawing from the program. A NASA source confirmed the decision.

Unfortunately, Collins is experiencing significant delays, a person familiar with the matter told Ars, and Collins has acknowledged that its xEVAS work significantly underperformed and over budget, ultimately leading it to seek termination or renegotiating the scope and budget.

NASA and Collins Aerospace acknowledged requests for comment sent by Ars early Tuesday morning, but as of afternoon had not provided any substantive answers to questions about the action or any steps forward.

NASA regularly has problems maintaining its decades-old spacesuits (known as extravehicular mobility units) that debuted in the 1980s, and NASA has acknowledged that the suits have outlived their designed lifespan. Just this Monday, NASA had to halt a spacewalk after a water leak in the maintenance and cooling umbilical unit of the Tracy Dyson spacesuit caused the airlock to depressurize and the hatch to open.

As a result of this issue, NASA will likely only be able to conduct one spacewalk this summer, down from the three originally planned to complete work outside the International Space Station.

Increasing pressure on axioms

A bidding process for the commercial spacesuit program, held in 2021 and 2022, ultimately resulted in just two bidders emerging. Raytheon Technologies' Collins was the most experienced bidder in the spacesuit field, having designed the original Apollo spacesuits, and partnered with experienced providers ILC Dover and Oceaneering. Axiom is a relatively new company that was primarily focused on developing a private space station before the spacesuit competition began.

In evaluating the bids, NASA officials expressed concerns about Collins' approach, noting that the Collins proposal relied on rapid acceleration of technology maturity and the resolution of major technology trade studies to meet the proposed timeline, but in the source selection statement concluded that the agency had a high degree of confidence that Collins could deliver the spacesuits.

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