NASA took another step toward
landing humans on the Moon when the agency announced a plan to purchase new spacesuits for its astronauts.
NASA said it would instead
buy spacesuit services from two private companies, Axiom Space and Collins Aerospace.
These companies are responsible for
the overall development of the spacesuits used on the ISS and activities on the lunar surface.
Axiom and Collins said
they intended to demonstrate their spacesuits for NASA likely in the form of a spacewalk outside the space station by 2025.
NASA will provide a
limited amount of guaranteed funding to support spacesuit programs at Axiom and Collins.
However, the bulk of
the funding will be paid out through task orders between now and 2034.