Axiom Space astronaut and director of human spaceflight Peggy Whitson and NASA astronaut Douglas Wheelock recently stepped inside Axiom Space’s next-generation spacesuit to conduct integrated testing in support of NASA’s Artemis campaign, which is set to return astronauts to the Moon by September 2026. It was the first integrated test bringing Artemis III partners – NASA, SpaceX, and Axiom Space – together to conduct a pressurized simulation, and the first test of its kind since the Apollo era.
NASA and its partners Axiom Space, designer of the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU) and SpaceX, developer of Starship, the Human Landing System (HLS) for Artemis III, completed a successful, coordinated test using development hardware for SpaceX’s Starship in Hawthorne, California.
This was a significant milestone to collect information on how the spacesuit, the lander, and the human element will work together during the Artemis III mission.
“Astronaut feedback is crucially important, helping to inform the engineering teams on any iterative changes needed,” said Russell Ralston, Vice President of Extravehicular Activity (EVA), Axiom Space. “After this test, we’re able to further refine and develop innovative solutions to inform our single architecture design.”
In less than two years, Axiom Space has made substantial progress in suit design and testing. The suit design is beyond the preliminary design review point with NASA and will enter the critical design review phase later this year.
“We’ve conducted many tests with different people, including engineers and astronauts to ensure the suit’s advanced capabilities will enable a wide range of crewmembers to conduct extensive science research during the Artemis III mission to the lunar south pole,” said Ralston.
Active progress and testing of the spacesuit continue. Just a few weeks before this integrated test, Axiom Space completed a successful trial at NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) with an unoccupied, weighted spacesuit to accurately simulate the lunar environment, where gravitational forces are 1/6th of Earth's.
Stay tuned to see which Axiom Space astronaut will wear the suit when the AxEMU takes its first run in the NBL with an astronaut inside.
Artemis III partners – NASA, SpaceX, and Axiom Space – together conducted a successful pressurized simulation and the first test of its kind since the Apollo era. Credit: Courtesy of SpaceX.
Tethered to a system immediately outside the HLS airlock that pressurized the suits and provided air, electrical power, cooling and more to the astronauts, each AxEMU also included a full-scale model of the Portable Life Support System (PLSS), or “backpack,” on the back of the spacesuits. Credit: Courtesy of SpaceX.
The three-hour integrated test provided feedback on the flexibility and agility of the spacesuits as well as the layout, physical design, mechanical assemblies, and clearances inside SpaceX’s Starship Human Landing System (HLS) in Hawthorne, California. Credit: Courtesy of SpaceX.