June 4, 2024First Artemis III Integrated Test CompleteAxEMU, NewsAxiom Space astronaut and director of human spaceflight Peggy Whitson and NASA astronaut Douglas Wheelock recently stepped inside Axiom Space’s next-generation spacesuit to conduct integrated testing in support of NASA’s Artemis campaign, which is set to return astronauts to the Moon by September 2026. It was the first integrated test bringing Artemis III partners – NASA, SpaceX, and Axiom Space – together to conduct a pressurized simulation, and the first test of its kind since the Apollo era. NASA and its partners Axiom Space, designer of the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU) and SpaceX, developer of Starship, the Human Landing System (HLS) for Artemis III, completed a successful, coordinated test using development hardware for SpaceX’s Starship in Hawthorne, California.This was a significant milestone to collect information on how the spacesuit, the lander, and the human element will work together during the Artemis III mission.“Astronaut feedback is crucially important, helping to inform the engineering teams on any iterative changes needed,” said Russell Ralston, Vice President of Extravehicular Activity (EVA), Axiom Space. “After this test, we’re able to further refine and develop innovative solutions to inform our single architecture design.”In less than two years, Axiom Space has made substantial progress in suit design and testing. The suit design is beyond the preliminary design review point with NASA and will enter the critical design review phase later this year. “We’ve conducted many tests with different people, including engineers and astronauts to ensure the suit’s advanced capabilities will enable a wide range of crewmembers to conduct extensive science research during the Artemis III mission to the lunar south pole,” said Ralston. Active progress and testing of the spacesuit continue. Just a few weeks before this integrated test, Axiom Space completed a successful trial at NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) with an unoccupied, weighted spacesuit to accurately simulate the lunar environment, where gravitational forces are 1/6th of Earth's. Stay tuned to see which Axiom Space astronaut will wear the suit when the AxEMU takes its first run in the NBL with an astronaut inside.
Artemis III partners – NASA, SpaceX, and Axiom Space – together conducted a successful pressurized simulation and the first test of its kind since the Apollo era. Credit: Courtesy of SpaceX
(Left to right) Axiom Space astronaut and director of human spaceflight Peggy Whitson and NASA astronaut Douglas Wheelock wore pressure garments to remove heat and provide protection underneath the AxEMU spacesuit. Credit: Courtesy of SpaceX.
Tethered to a system immediately outside the HLS airlock that pressurized the suits and provided air, electrical power, cooling and more to the astronauts, each AxEMU also included a full-scale model of the Portable Life Support System (PLSS), or “backpack,” on the back of the spacesuits. Credit: Courtesy of SpaceX.
The three-hour integrated test provided feedback on the flexibility and agility of the spacesuits as well as the layout, physical design, mechanical assemblies, and clearances inside SpaceX’s Starship Human Landing System (HLS) in Hawthorne, California. Credit: Courtesy of SpaceX.
The day-long test, conducted at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California, provided NASA and its partners with valuable feedback on the layout, physical design, mechanical assemblies, and clearances inside the Starship HLS, as well as the flexibility and agility of the suits, known as the AxEMU (Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit).To begin the test, Wheelock and Whitson put on the spacesuits in the full-scale airlock that sits on Starship’s airlock deck. Suits were then pressurized using a system immediately outside the HLS airlock that provided air, electrical power, cooling, and communications to the astronauts. Each AxEMU also included a full-scale model of the Portable Life Support System, or “backpack,” on the back of the suits. For Artemis moonwalks, each crew member will put on a spacesuit with minimal assistance, so the team was eager to evaluate how easily the suits can be put on, taken off, and stowed in the airlock.During the test, NASA and SpaceX engineers were also able to evaluate placement of mobility aids, such as handrails, for traversing the hatch. Another set of mobility aids, straps hanging from the ceiling in the airlock, assisted the astronauts when entering and removing the AxEMU suits. The astronauts also practiced interacting with a control panel in the airlock, ensuring controls could be reached and activated while the astronauts were wearing gloves.“Overall, I was pleased with the astronauts’ operation of the control panel and with their ability to perform the difficult tasks they will have to do before stepping onto the Moon,” said Logan Kennedy, lead for surface activities in NASA’s HLS Program. “The test also confirmed that the amount of space available in the airlock, on the deck, and in the elevator, are sufficient for the work our astronauts plan to do.”The suited astronauts also walked the from Starship’s airlock deck to the elevator built for testing. During Artemis missions, the elevator will take NASA astronauts and their equipment from the deck to the lunar surface for a moonwalk and then back again. Whitson and Wheelock practiced opening a gate to enter the elevator while evaluating the dexterity of the AxEMU suit gloves, and practiced lowering the ramp that astronauts will use to take the next steps on the Moon.The steps the astronauts took in the spacesuits through full-scale builds of the Starship hatch, airlock, airlock deck, and elevator may have been small, but they marked an important step toward preparing for a new generation of moonwalks as part of Artemis.For the Artemis III mission, SpaceX will provide the Starship HLS that will dock with Orion in lunar orbit and take two astronauts to and from the surface of the Moon. Axiom Space is providing a new generation of spacesuits for moonwalks that are designed to fit a wider range of astronauts.
I do not know the original source of this photo published on X. It shows the "crew Starship HLS airlock mockup":https://twitter.com/tobyliiiiiiiiii/status/1798703726028587396
It seems to be during the Starship flight test webcast (T-14m46s) based on the captions.
Had a chat with NASA Administrator Bill Nelson recently about science budget cuts, Artemis deadlines, and apple pie.
If SpaceX is successful on the lander, and at this point, as I just said, we have every reason to believe that it is on track, then I don't see a changing of the mission of Artemis III.
I'm kind of surprised the spacesuits are not mentioned as a pacing item.
I'm putting the odds of all the systems being ready for 2026, and mainly starship HLS at less than 1% though I'm happy to be proven wrong.It seems insane to me to think that the first crewed mission of lunar hls would be the lunar landing, and with SLS and Orion reserved for the key missions SpaceX would probably have to do a rendezvous with HLS in LEO with their crew dragon. At which point, you're almost at the point where you could do a lunar mission then and there, the only "hard" part would be coming back from lunar orbit.There may need to be some re-examination of this particular mission.
Is there a minimum time between A2 and A3 the way there was between A1 and A2 due to Orion components reuse? If A2 gets heavily delayed due to heat shield problems does that delay A3 just as much, or could they go relatively close together in that scenario (assuming HLS and spacesuits got finished during the heat shield delay)?
It seems insane to me to think that the first crewed mission of lunar hls would be the lunar landing
Oct 9, 2024As SpaceX tries to realize aspirational development schedules for their ambitious Starship system, NASA is looking at alternatives to its Artemis III mission plans, in case the Starship HLS lunar lander isn't ready to go to the Moon by this time in 2026. This video starts an episodic look at this long-term storyline about alternatives to the first lunar landing of NASA astronauts since Apollo 17 in 1972. A change to Artemis plans wouldn't be unprecedented, since NASA famously adjusted its mission plans in 1968 during Apollo and less famously during assembly of the International Space Station at the turn of the century.Each situation has its own evolving set of circumstances, and in this episode we'll start to look at those factors. The schedules for Orion and SLS are still a factor being covered in the news, but Starship development is behind its own timeline, which also jeopardizes the overall Artemis III schedule. Before going down the alternatives rabbit hole, it's worth considering some historical context. This video takes a look at the history of delays to the schedules for Starship and for alternatives like Gateway since NASA Exploration took the Artemis name five years ago.Imagery is courtesy of NASA, except where noted.00:00 Intro02:12 A history of Artemis III schedule delays08:06 Low flight rate one of the reasons why NASA doesn't want to wait09:13 NASA started talking about alternatives in 2023 after Artemis I18:45 History of Gateway makes it a challenge to support Artemis III23:01 Thanks for watching!
