NASA’s 2024 Moon Landing Jeopardized Following Spacesuit Delay

NASA’s Inspector General concluded that the 2024 moon landing would be delayed as spacesuits needed to walk on the Lunar won’t be ready in time. The space agency is developing an advanced spacesuit for Artemis program called Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU) .

NASA’s IG also added that other factors like delay in the development of Orion and Human Landing System (HLS) and Space Launch System are responsible for the preclusion of the moon landing scheduled in 2024.Technical issues, a shortfall in funding, and pandemic impact have been identified for the delay. Since the Constellation program in 2007, the space agency has spent at least $420.1 million on new designs of the spacesuit.

Additionally, it has spent about $625 million on developing the zEMU. However, funding for xEMU was cut by 28%. This factor delayed the development time of the xEMU, said .Looking at the scenarios, the space agency has estimated that the suits needed to walk on the Moon for the Artemis 3 mission will be delayed and will not be completed until November 2024.

Additionally, it stated that the estimated time for the final launch preparations would not be completed.The report also raised concerns regarding the procurement strategies adopted by NASA’s for the new suit. The report has suggested four recommendations regarding NASA’s schedule for developing the spacesuit and acquisition strategies. NASA’s has accepted the recommendations but has stated that the launch will be delayed even after implementing the recommendations.