Almost exactly two Years ago, as NASA prepared for the next generation of human spaceflight, it commissioned two private companies to develop and design new spacesuits. These new spacesuits would allow astronauts to both conduct spacewalks outside the International Space Station and walk on the moon as part of the Artemis program.
Now that plan appears to be running into trouble, as one of the spacesuit suppliers — Collins Aerospace — is expected to pull out, Ars has learned. That’s a blow to NASA, as the space agency desperately needs modern spacesuits.
NASA’s Apollo-era spacesuits have long since been retired. The current spacesuits for spacewalks in low Earth orbit are four decades old. “These new capabilities will allow us to continue on the ISS, conduct the Artemis program and continue to Mars,” said Johnson Space Center Director Vanessa Wyche during a celebratory press conference two years ago in Houston.
The two winning teams were led by Collins Aerospace and Axiom Space, respectively. They could win contracts worth up to $3.5 billion – NASA would essentially lease the use of these suits for a couple of decades. Since then, NASA has mainly hired Axiom to work on a suit for the moon and the Artemis program, and Collins to develop a suit for orbital operations, such as space station servicing.
Collins leaves
This week, however, Collins announced that it will likely end its participation in the Exploration Extravehicular Activity Services (xEVAS) contract. On Tuesday morning, Chris Ayers, general manager at Collins Aerospace, met with employees to inform them of the company’s exit from the program. A NASA source confirmed the decision.
“Unfortunately, Collins is significantly behind schedule,” a person familiar with the situation told Ars. “Collins has admitted that they significantly underperformed and overspent on their xEVAS work, culminating in a request to be removed from the contract or to renegotiate the scope and budget.”
NASA and Collins Aerospace acknowledged a request for comment from Ars early Tuesday morning, but by afternoon had not provided substantive answers to questions about the action or announced any further steps.
The agency has had recurring problems maintaining the suits, known as the Extravehicular Mobility Unit, which were built decades ago and first deployed in the 1980s. NASA has acknowledged that the suit has exceeded its designed lifespan. Just on Monday, the agency had to abort a spacewalk after the airlock was depressurized and the hatch opened due to a water leak in the service and cooling supply unit of Tracy Dyson’s spacesuit.
Because of this problem, NASA will likely be able to conduct only a single spacewalk this summer, after originally planning three to complete work outside the International Space Station.
Increased pressure on Axiom
During the competitive bidding process for the commercial spacesuit program, which took place in 2021 and 2022, only two bidders ultimately emerged. Collins, a subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies, was the bidder with the most experience in spacesuits, having designed the original Apollo suits, and worked with experienced vendors ILC Dover and Oceaneering. Axiom is a newer company that was primarily focused on developing a private space station until the spacesuit competition.
In evaluating the bids, NASA officials expressed some concerns about Collins’ approach, noting that the proposal relies on “rapid acceleration of technology readiness and completion of key technical trade studies to meet the proposed schedule.” However, in its source selection statement, the agency concluded that it had “high confidence” that Collins would be able to deliver the spacesuits.
