What people wear on flights that go to the Moon: surface EVA and launch/entry survival in Orion.
Axiom Space builds AxEMU. A-P-T Research, Air-Lock, Arrow Science, KBR, Paragon, Prada, and Sophic each hold an AxEMU job. David Clark builds the Orion Crew Survival System. Paragon also supplies HALO life support, and JAXA supplies I-Hab life support.
Mission brief
AxEMU on Artemis III is the suit evaluated in the Blue Moon MK2 cabin. AxEMU on Artemis IV is the surface suit for that flight. The Orion Crew Survival System is the launch and Earth entry suit on Artemis II, Artemis III, Artemis IV, and Artemis V. On 30 April 2024 Doug Wheelock and Peggy Whitson wore AxEMU suits on Starship HLS hardware at SpaceX in Hawthorne.
Schematic
Surface EVA is the Axiom suit and the supplier jobs, plus the AxEMU Sortie Suit. Launch and entry is the David Clark suit. Gateway rows are Paragon HALO life support and JAXA I-Hab life support. The rover row is the Starship HLS airlock and elevator test.
On 30 April 2024 NASA astronaut Doug Wheelock and Axiom Space astronaut Peggy Whitson spent a day on Starship HLS development hardware at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California.
Public reporting describes a NASA directed simplified Sortie Suit variant of AxEMU for early Artemis surface sorties under Axiom's existing xEVAS suit work.
Paused Gateway element: JAXA I-Hab ECLSS and batteries are not delivered on live Artemis IV.
Flights
Artemis II2026-04-01 · First crewed Artemis flight: SLS + Orion lunar flyby.Artemis IIINET late 2027 · NASA: Artemis III is a 2027 crewed demonstration in low Earth orbit.Starship Lunar Cargo (HLS path)NET late 2020s-2030s (HLS path) · SpaceX Starship lunar architecture: NASA HLS crew lander path plus heavy cargo configurations.Artemis IVNET early 2028 · NASA: Artemis IV is the first planned crewed south-polar landing, early 2028.Artemis VNET late 2028 · NASA: Artemis V is the second planned crewed south-polar landing, late 2028, when lunar-base surface work begins.Gateway PPE + HALOPaused · Paused Gateway integrated architecture: Maxar Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) with Northrop Grumman HALO habitation.