This uniform will also be used on the International Space Station, which will replace the current uniform adopted nearly 40 years ago.
“History will be made in this uniform,” said Vanessa Weisch, director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center. He noted that “this costume will be the first person of color and the first woman to step on the moon.”
NASA intended to develop a new generation of uniforms on its own, but that took a long time.
The assignment of this work to the two companies is in line with the trend of public-private partnership adopted by NASA in recent years. Vanessa Weisch explained that the policy allows the agency to “save some costs” by “sharing the investment” with private sector companies.
NASA said in a statement that both companies are investing “a substantial amount of their own money.”
The value of the contracts with the two companies was not disclosed, but the total ceiling of the program is $ 3.5 billion for the service, which will last until 2034.
NASA reserves the right to select only one of the two companies, or both, or add others. However, the uniforms in all cases remain the property of the manufacturer, who is responsible for their maintenance.
Axiom Space, which previously sent tourists to the International Space Station on a SpaceX spacecraft, plans to build its own space station. Next, he himself will require spacesuits for his future clients.
And NASA has developed a book of conditions and specifications for the uniforms that allow them to be used for motion on the Moon or for orbit the International Space Station into surrounding low orbit.
In these two environments, the needs are different, since the weight of a suit, for example, is not an imbalance problem, but on the Moon, dust must be considered.
NASA left Axiom Space and Collins Aerospace to decide whether to make one or two separate suits.
Dan Burbank of Collins Aerospace, himself a former astronaut, explained that the goal is to provide “maximum mobility” for those wearing the suit.
Source: Al Akhbar
