NASA still confident that Artemis

NASA says it has a new approach to spacesuit development that should smooth out delays in getting ready for astronaut moon landings as soon as 2028.

NASA came under criticism in a new Office of the Inspector General (OIG) report released Monday (April 20), which said the agency’s approach to next-generation spacesuits led to delays in the program. (The spacesuits used on the International Space Station are not an option for Artemis astronauts; not only are they decades old, they were also not designed for moonwalks.)

According to the report, those delays could push readiness for a crewed moon landing back to 2031 — three years past the Trump administration’s current deadline.

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NASA originally faced delays in creating moon spacesuits on its own, which the OIG previously said was one reason the agency could not hit the previous moon-landing target of 2024. (Another reason: The Artemis crewed lunar lander wasn’t ready — and still isn’t, in fact.)

So, in 2022, the agency contracted two companies, Axiom Space and Collins Aerospace, to develop moon and microgravity spacesuits. Collins dropped out after two years, leaving Axiom as the sole remaining next-gen suit provider. Axiom had delays of its own in developing a suit with features that can be swapped out to focus on moon or microgravity environments.

All this means that recent agency timelines of 2025 for a moon suit and 2026 for a microgravity suit were ultimately “unachievable,” according to the OIG. The new report adds that it’s possible the spacesuit won’t be ready for these environments until 2031 — but NASA’s chief says the agency has a new approach to speed things up considerably.

Jared Isaacman, who was appointed NASA administrator in December, said that the moon suits should be ready in two years, for a lunar landing that could happen as soon as on Artemis 4.

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“I am confident that when NASA is ready to land on the moon in 2028, our astronauts will be wearing Axiom suits,” Isaacman posted on X on Monday, after the OIG report came out.

In response to a Space.com query sent Monday afternoon, Axiom said it’s confident that it can make the 2028 moon-landing target. “We are working toward in-space, spacesuit evaluation demonstrations in 2027, actively engaged with NASA,” CEO Jonathan Cirtain said in an emailed statement sent on Tuesday morning (April 21).