Elon Musk offers NASA’s help from SpaceX to develop spacesuits for future lunar flight

Posted:

10 before 2021 23:05 GMT

The delay in the development of the suits is one of the factors that makes it impossible for an astronaut to set foot on the surface of the Moon in 2024, as planned by NASA.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk offered to help NASA develop spacesuits after the US space agency’s Inspector General, Paul Martin, announced that due to delays in the process, it would not be possible for a man to set foot on the moon again in 2024.

“SpaceX can do this if needed”, books Musk on Twitter, commenting on a post with a report by Martin on the subject. With $420 million spent on the program and another $625 million planned, the suits will not be “ready to fly until April 2025 at the earliest,” the NASA inspector general said.

Martin previously explained that according to NASA’s plans, the first two xEMU (Extra-Vehicle Mobility Unit) spacesuits should be ready by November 2024, but that the administration “is facing significant difficulties in achieving this goal.” The delay in development work, associated with lack of funding, the impact of the epidemic and technical problems, is already 20 months.

Artemis program that aims to construction Permanent human presence on the moon’s surface and in its orbit began during the tenure of Donald Trump. Astronauts were expected to return to the lunar surface in 2024, but the Biden administration says the date is under review.

The program, announced by NASA in 2019, will consist of three phases: The first will consist of an uncrewed flight of the Orion spacecraft around the moon and back to Earth. The second stage anticipates a trip around the moon with a crew on board. In the third phase of the mission, NASA is seeking to land astronauts on the Moon, initially in 2024.

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