NASA is gearing up for the first crewed journey to the Moon in over half a century, a mission that could launch as soon as two weeks from now.
And next year, the agency will finally attempt to return astronauts to the lunar surface itself as part of its Artemis 3 mission, which will dramatically increase the already considerable stakes.
Particularly when it comes to stepping out of the spacecraft — the agency has yet to pick between Blue Origin and SpaceX’s offerings in that regard — staying protected from the extreme temperature swings, space radiation, and lack of atmosphere is extremely challenging.
That’s not to mention the physical limitations of an extremely bulky spacesuit, which could physically tax astronauts even more than stepping outside of the International Space Station during a spacewalk.
As Ars Technica reports, former NASA astronaut and microbiologist Kate Rubins, who retired last year and has logged 300 days in space, recently voiced her concerns over the Moon suit that private space company Axiom Space has been developing for NASA as part of a $228 million contract.
“What I think we have on the Moon that we don’t really have on the space station that I want people to recognize is an extreme physical stress,” she said during a recent meeting of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
Besides not getting any sleep, Rubin warned that people will be “in these suits for eight or nine hours” and doing extravehicular activities (EVAs) “every day.”
Compared to the suits NASA astronauts wore during the Apollo missions, the Axiom Space suit is considerably heavier. While a sixth of gravity will greatly alleviate some of that heft, they still weigh in at 300 pounds. At the same time, Moon walkers will enjoy greatly enhanced flexibility, allowing them to kneel down to pick up objects, for instance.
“I think the suits are better than Apollo, but I don’t think they are great right now,” Rubin warned, noting “flexibility issues” and the reality that “people are going to be falling over.”
In remarks directly to Ars, Rubin elaborated, emphasizing that the suits are “definitely much better than Apollo,” but remain “still quite heavy.”
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