BB.lv: A Closet Full of Spacesuits, But Nothing to Go Out in: NASA Has Big Problems

Last week, NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson was horrified to discover water was collecting in her spacesuit 31 minutes into a spacewalk. The space agency was forced to abort the spacewalk and investigate the cause of the leak, Futurism reports.

This is just the latest in a long list of problems that have befallen NASA spacesuits in recent years. The fact is that the spacesuits used by American astronauts were designed back in the 1980s.

NASA’s efforts to create new spacesuits with the help of the commercial space industry are also in limbo.

Contractor Collins Aerospace recently turned down a NASA contract to develop new spacesuits for the ISS. The space agency did not explain why Collins turned down the NASA contract.

Collins and Axiom Space were selected by NASA back in 2022 for the xEVAS commercial spacesuit development program. A pair of the new suits are intended for astronauts on the ISS, and the rest for NASA’s Artemis mission to the Moon.

Back in February, Collins announced that it had successfully tested prototype spacesuits, but later officially abandoned the project.

“No further work will be performed on the project. This was agreed upon after Collins acknowledged that the development schedule was not consistent with the space station schedule and NASA’s mission goals,” NASA said in a statement.

According to insiders, development was plagued by delays and overruns. Because Collins could no longer cover the costs of the fixed-price contract, the company decided to abandon the project.

Fortunately, another contractor, Axiom, came to the rescue and signed a cross-order contract with NASA to adapt the lunar spacesuit for use on the ISS.

SpaceX is also developing its own spacewalk suit, which it plans to test during an upcoming mission.

However, this month alone, NASA has had to cancel two spacewalks due to suit problems. The space agency also had to call a seven-month hiatus from spacewalks earlier in 2022 after water began to accumulate inside one astronaut’s helmet.