Collins Aerospace to deliver new spacesuits for ISS missions

Building on more than 50 years of experience developing spacesuits for NASA, Collins Aerospace (a Raytheon Technologies business), along with its partners ILC Dover and Oceaneering, was awarded a contract to design, develop, and demonstrate the next-generation spacesuit for the International Space Station (ISS). This is Collins' first task order under NASA's Exploration Extravehicular Activity Services, or xEVAS, contract which was awarded in May 2022.

"Our next-generation spacesuit was built by astronauts for astronauts, continuing Collins' long-standing legacy as a trusted partner of NASA's human space exploration," said Dave McClure, vice president and general manager, ISR & Space Solutions with Collins Aerospace. "Collins' advanced spacesuit technology will be used on the ISS, and we're prepared to continue keeping astronauts safe, connected, and ready no matter the mission."

Collins' next-generation spacesuit contains everything an astronaut needs to survive in the vacuum of space. Made up of more than 18,000 parts and with an interior volume the size of a small refrigerator, the suit provides oxygen, CO₂ removal, electrical power, hydration, ventilation, thermal control, and communications.

"ILC Dover is proud to be working with a world-class team to design and manufacture the next generation of spacesuits for the ISS," said Corey Walker, CEO of ILC Dover. "Leveraging our decades of experience engineering the pressure garments for the Apollo missions and the ISS, our latest spacesuits will have the ability to be outfitted for missions from the ISS to the lunar surface and beyond."

Collins' next-generation suit is lighter weight and lower volume to improve astronaut efficiency, range of motion, and comfort. Designed to fit nearly any body type, it also has an open architecture design which allows the suit to be easily modified as missions change or become more advanced.

The award – the second under NASA's Exploration EVA Services contract – is for design and development of a next-generation spacesuit and support systems. The task order has a base value of $97.2 million.

Collins Aerospace will complete a critical design review and demonstrate use of the suit on Earth in a simulated space environment by January 2024. NASA will have the option to extend the contract for a demonstration with agency crew members outside the space station by April 2026.

With this second award for a new suit and system, NASA is another step closer to a replacement for the current design used by NASA astronauts for decades during space shuttle and space station missions. The new suit will support continued station maintenance and is crucial to future Artemis missions to the Moon in preparation for Mars.

"We look forward to obtaining another much-needed service under our contract," said Lara Kearney, manager of the Extravehicular Activity and Human Surface Mobility Program at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, which manages the spacesuit contract. "By working with industry, NASA is able to continue its over 22-year legacy of maintaining a presence in low-Earth orbit."

Under the indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract, both Collins Aerospace, as well as Axiom, which was awarded an initial task order award for Artemis suits, provided proposals to meet both station and Artemis requirements. Both vendors will continue to compete for future task orders which include recurring services for station spacewalks and moonwalks beyond Artemis III.

Collins will be responsible for the design, development, qualification, certification, and production of its station spacesuits and support equipment to meet NASA's key requirements. The agency will continue to maintain the authority to manage astronaut training, spacewalk planning, and approval of the service systems.

"We are extremely excited and proud to be part of the Collins team, helping to successfully develop and deploy critical U.S. EVA space exploration capability," said Phil Beierl, senior vice president, Aerospace and Defense Technologies, Oceaneering. "Our staff brings outstanding spacesuit systems engineering and integration expertise to this task. We look forward to leveraging our portable life support and pressure garment subsystem technologies, as well as our crew training and mission operations knowledge to support the Collins team."

ILC Dover spacesuits have been worn during more than 250 space flights, six moon landings, and over 3,000 hours of spacewalks without a single failure. ILC Dover has developed two commercial suits, Sol, a Launch, Entry, and Abort (LEA) suit, and Astro, an extravehicular activity (EVA) and planetary exploration suit.

Oceaneering Space Systems, a business within Oceaneering's Aerospace and Defense Technologies segment, specializes in engineering for harsh environments from sea to space with complete turnkey design, development, manufacturing, certification, maintenance, testing, and sustaining engineering for space-based robotics and automation, satellite servicing tools and equipment, human space flight systems, and thermal protection systems.