NASA Simplifies Spacesuits to Land on the Moon by 2028: What Changed in the Artemis Program

NASA is moving to a simplified spacesuit architecture for the first astronaut landings on the Moon under the Artemis program. At the direction of program manager Jeremy Parsons, the agency is working with Axiom Space to develop a lighter variant called the Sortie Suit. The main goal of the reform is to accelerate the mission schedule and bring humans back to the surface of Earth's moon by 2028, without waiting for an ideal but overly complex spacesuit.

Why NASA Is Revising Its Approach

The program revision was initiated by new NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, appointed in December 2025. At his direction, a review of Artemis was conducted, as the program had fallen significantly behind its original schedule. The delays created a real risk that China would reach the lunar surface before the United States. Against this backdrop, with Congress's consent, SLS rocket production has already been optimized, and the Lunar Gateway orbital station project has been canceled — all to compress timelines and reduce costs.

From AxEMU to Sortie Suit: What Changed

NASA's initial requirements for the spacesuit were, by experts' assessment, "too severe." The agency required the suit to withstand six spacewalks over 6.5 days, remain operational after 210 days of storage in a folded state, and provide two hours of work in the ultra-cold lunar shadow. As a result, the AxEMU spacesuit turned out to be too heavy, rigid, expensive, and complex to manufacture, which limited astronauts' mobility. The new Sortie Suit concept calls for creating a "good enough" spacesuit for the first missions, with gradual complexity increases in the future.

Contradictory Data

The agency's official position sounds optimistic: simplifying the spacesuits should make a landing by 2028 possible. However, industry publications point to a different picture. In particular, in April 2026 it was reported that NASA risks missing the Artemis III deadline, as the new spacesuits may not be ready in time for the lunar mission. Thus, the stated 2028 goal remains a benchmark, but achieving it depends on the pace of work at Axiom Space, which is a concern for the aerospace safety advisory board.

Single Supplier and Production Risks

Axiom Space remained the sole spacesuit supplier after Collins Aerospace exited the project in 2024. Concentrating supply in one company's hands increases the dependence of timelines on a single contractor's performance. This is precisely why the design simplification is seen as a way to reduce production risks and accelerate preparations for the first lunar excursions.