NASA will apparently reveal today (June 1) who will make the spacesuits for its Artemis lunar program, and you can watch the unveiling live.
The news will fall at a press conference which will begin at 2:00 p.m. EDT (6:00 p.m. GMT). You can watch it live here on Space.com, courtesy of NASA, or directly through the agency (opens in a new tab).
In a media advisory issued last week, NASA officials said the press conference would reveal “the company or companies selected to move forward in developing the next generation of spacesuits for Artemis missions to the Moon and the International Space Station.” It’s a little vague, but the title of this media advisory – “NASA to choose next-generation spacesuits for moonwalking, space” – suggests that “advancing in development” actually means “building .”
Related: The evolution of the space suit in pictures
Artemis aims to establish a sustainable and long-term human presence in and around the moon by the end of the 2020s. NASA believes the lessons and skills learned to achieve this will help humanity take the next giant leap – a crewed mission to Mars, which the agency hopes to achieve in the end. 2030s or early 2040s.
NASA and its partners are working to develop and mature a variety of spaceflight technologies to turn the grand vision of Artemis into reality, including moon-focused spacesuits.
“New spacesuits that allow humans to explore the lunar surface and unlock new spacewalking capabilities outside the International Space Station are a critical component in advancing human exploration in the world. space and demonstrate continued American leadership,” NASA officials wrote in the media advisory last week.
“Under Artemis, new exploration spacesuits, as well as human surface mobility systems, the Space Launch System rocket, the Orion spacecraft, ground systems, gateway and human landing systems, will allow NASA to bring humans back and establish a long-term presence on the moon and eventually explore Mars,” they added.(Gateway is the small lunar-orbiting satellite space station that will serve as a jumping-off point for crewed missions to the lunar surface.)
Those attending today’s press conference are:
- Vanessa Wyche, director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC)
- Lindsay Aitchison, Extravehicular Activities and Human Surface Mobility Program Manager, NASA Headquarters
- Lara Kearney, Manager, Extravehicular Activities and Human Surface Mobility Program, JSC
- Dina Contella, Operations Integration Manager, International Space Station Program, JSC
Mike Wall is the author of “The low (opens in a new tab)(Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for extraterrestrial life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall (opens in a new tab). Follow us on twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in a new tab) Or on Facebook (opens in a new tab).