When astronauts walked on the Moon, they could not bend down to pick up a rock.
More than fifty years after the last human footprint was pressed into lunar dust, NASA has taken a quiet but consequential step toward returning — and going further still. By awarding $3.5 billion in contracts to Axiom Space and Collins Aerospace, the agency is commissioning a new skin for its astronauts: suits designed not merely for the Moon, but for the long arc of human ambition that bends toward Mars. The xEMU spacesuit represents more than engineering progress; it is an acknowledgment that the bodies doing this work are more varied than the past allowed for, and that the future demands we dress accordingly.
- NASA's existing spacesuits are relics of the Space Shuttle era — so outdated that a water leak recently forced a suspension of all routine spacewalks aboard the ISS.
- The agency's failure to field suits in the right sizes famously derailed the first planned all-female spacewalk in 2019, exposing a decades-long design blind spot around body diversity.
- Two competing contractors — Axiom Space and Collins Aerospace — now race to deliver flight-ready xEMU suits by 2025, with a crewed lunar landing and an ISS demonstration both on the line.
- The new suits promise genuine mobility gains: astronauts will finally be able to bend down and pick up a rock, something the Apollo suits physically would not allow.
- NASA is simultaneously funding 3D-printed, custom-fitted suits through its Spacesuit Digital Thread program, aiming to give every astronaut a garment shaped precisely to their own body.
More than half a century after humans last walked on the Moon, NASA is preparing to go back — and to go much further. The Artemis program aims to establish a sustained lunar presence by decade's end, with every lesson learned serving as preparation for a crewed Mars mission in the late 2030s or early 2040s. But rockets and capsules alone are not enough. Astronauts need a new skin.
The suits currently used aboard the International Space Station are decades old and were designed for a different era — one with a far narrower vision of who an astronaut could be. When NASA attempted the first all-female spacewalk in 2019, the suits simply didn't come in the right sizes. A water leak earlier this year forced the agency to suspend routine spacewalks entirely. The need for something new had become impossible to ignore.
NASA's answer is the Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit, or xEMU — a fundamental rethinking of how humans move and work beyond a spacecraft. The agency awarded $3.5 billion in contracts to Axiom Space and Collins Aerospace to build these suits, which will be lighter, more flexible, and designed to accommodate a far wider range of body types. Astronaut Mike Fincke noted a telling limitation of the Apollo suits: astronauts couldn't bend down to pick up a rock. The xEMU will change that, adding water-cooled temperature regulation and enhanced radiation shielding for long surface stays.
Both contractors will compete for real mission assignments as early as 2025, including a demonstration at the ISS and the first Artemis crewed lunar landing. NASA's Johnson Space Center director Vanessa Wyche made clear that every suit will be fully certified before it flies — the environments are too hostile for anything less.
Running alongside this commercial effort is a more experimental vision: 3D-printed spacesuits custom-fitted to each astronaut's exact dimensions, led by former astronaut Bonnie Dunbar under the Spacesuit Digital Thread program. Astronauts will also wear an updated version of the familiar orange launch-and-reentry suit inside the Orion capsule. Together, these efforts signal something larger than hardware — a commitment to sending a more complete humanity into the deep, and bringing it safely home.
More than half a century has passed since humans last walked on the Moon, and NASA is preparing to go back. The agency is building toward Artemis, an ambitious program designed to establish a sustained human presence on and around the lunar surface by the end of this decade. But the Moon is not the final destination. Everything NASA learns from Artemis—every technique, every lesson, every piece of equipment—is meant to serve as a stepping stone toward something far larger: a crewed mission to Mars, which the agency hopes to launch in the late 2030s or early 2040s.
To make that journey possible, NASA needs more than a new rocket and a new spacecraft. It needs a new skin for its astronauts. The spacesuits currently worn by crews aboard the International Space Station are decades old, restrictive, and showing their age. In March, a water leak in one of these suits forced NASA to suspend routine spacewalks. They were designed for a different era—the Space Shuttle program of the 1980s—when the astronaut corps looked very different than it does today. When NASA attempted to conduct the first all-female spacewalk in 2019, the agency ran into a problem: the suits didn't come in the right sizes.
This week, NASA announced its answer. The agency awarded $3.5 billion in contracts to two companies—Axiom Space and Collins Aerospace—to design and build the spacesuits that will carry astronauts to the Moon and, eventually, to Mars. The new suits, called the Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit, or xEMU, represent a fundamental rethinking of how humans will move and work beyond the safety of a spacecraft. They will be lighter than their predecessors, more flexible across a wider range of body types, and engineered to handle the demands of long-duration missions on another world.
The xEMU is not simply a refinement of what came before. NASA astronaut Mike Fincke pointed out a basic limitation of the Apollo-era suits: when astronauts walked on the Moon fifty years ago, they could not bend down to pick up a rock. The new suits will allow far greater mobility. They will incorporate water-cooled channels to regulate body temperature and will be designed to protect astronauts from solar radiation during extended periods outside a habitat or spacecraft. The suits will also accommodate astronauts of different sizes and builds—a direct response to decades of criticism that spacesuits were built for a narrow demographic.
Both contractors will have the chance to compete for actual missions as early as 2025. That timeline includes a demonstration spacewalk at the International Space Station and the first crewed lunar landing of the Artemis program, currently scheduled for 2025 or 2026. Vanessa Wyche, director of NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, emphasized that the agency will certify each suit before it flies. The stakes are too high, and the environments too hostile, for anything less than absolute confidence.
Parallel to this commercial effort, NASA is pursuing its own experimental path. The agency is funding research into three-dimensional printed spacesuits—custom-fitted garments designed to match the exact dimensions of each individual astronauts body. The project, called the Spacesuit Digital Thread, is being led by Bonnie Dunbar, a former NASA astronaut. The vision is elegant: instead of forcing astronauts into standardized suits, give each one a suit tailored to their own frame.
The second suit astronauts will wear is an updated version of the iconic orange "pumpkin suit" that NASA crews have worn since the 1980s. Called the Orion Crew Survival System, it will be worn during launch and reentry, optimized for the microgravity environment inside the spacecraft itself. Together, these suits represent NASA's commitment to sending humans farther than ever before—and bringing them home safely.
Citações Notáveis
When the astronauts of Apollo walked on the Moon, they could not bend down and pick up a rock.— Mike Fincke, NASA astronaut
As spacesuit development advances within the companies, NASA will certify to ensure they are ready for our astronauts.— Vanessa Wyche, director of NASA's Johnson Space Center
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why does NASA need entirely new spacesuits now? The old ones have worked for decades.
They've worked, but they're showing real strain. The current suits leak, they don't fit a diverse range of astronauts, and they were never designed for the kind of work the Moon demands—long hours outside a habitat, collecting samples, setting up equipment. Apollo astronauts couldn't even bend down to pick up a rock.
So this is about capability, not just comfort.
Exactly. A suit that restricts your movement on the Moon is a suit that limits what you can accomplish there. And if you're planning to stay for weeks instead of days, you need something that can handle extended use without degrading.
The $3.5 billion contract went to two companies. Why not just one?
Competition drives innovation. Both Axiom and Collins will be working toward the same goal, but they'll approach it differently. NASA gets to see which design works best before committing fully.
And the 3D-printed suits—are those a backup plan?
More like a long-term vision. Custom-fitted suits mean every astronaut, regardless of size or build, gets optimal protection and mobility. That's the future NASA is building toward.