According to foreign media reports, NASA astronauts will walk on the moon in a patriotic way. On Tuesday local time, the agency displayed the new astronaut suit designed for the Artemis lunar mission at a press conference. NASA director Jim middot; Bridgenstein presided over this remarkable event and thus unveiled the mystery of the new spacesuit.
The public event showed two space suit prototypes. Among them, the orange Orion crew survival system suit is worn when launching and returning to the Orion spacecraft. The red, white and blue exploration extravehicular mobility unit (xemu) is used for spacewalk.
Bridgenstein specifically pointed out that these spacesuits are suitable for astronauts of all sizes. The reason why he emphasized this was that NASA had to cancel the first planned all female spacewalk because the international space station (ISS) did not have enough spacesuits.
NASA announced some details of the xemu spacesuit in early October, emphasizing the operability of the design and the progress made since the Apollo era.
During space missions in the 1960s and 1970s, Apollo astronauts sometimes fell while walking on the moon. So the new spacesuit will need to be able to meet the conditions for astronauts to bend their knees, lift objects over their heads and rotate their arms completely.
A NASA spacesuit engineer showed on the stage that he could put on the xemu spacesuit under pressure. At the same time, he also showed his ability to swing his fingers and squat down to pick up stones on the floor.
It is reported that astronauts are expected to wear these spacesuits on the moon for eight hours at a time.
As for the orange life jackets, they will not play any role on the lunar surface. They are designed to provide life support for up to six days in case of an emergency.
NASA is now building the first Artemis spacesuit and plans to deliver the finished product by 2023. After that, it plans to hand over the production of spacesuits to private enterprises.
In addition, bridgenstein has made an ambitious plan for NASA to send the first female and next male astronaut (perhaps two female astronauts) to the moon by 2024.
NASA believes that the Artemis mission is not just a symbolic walk on the lunar surface. It hopes to establish a sustainable human presence on the moon and use it as a starting point for further exploration of the solar system. Mars is on the list of future explorations.