Axiom completes first set of underwater tests of its commercial spacesuit
Click for original image.
Axiom, in partnership with the company KBR, has successfully now completed its first set of manned underwater tests of its commercial spacesuit, being built for NASA but owned by Axiom and available for use by others.
These initial crewed tests involved an astronaut being fully submerged in the NBL’s 6.2-million-gallon pool while wearing Axiom Space’s next-generation spacesuit, the AxEMU, which is being developed for use on NASA’s Artemis III mission. The goal was to evaluate the suit’s integrity in an environment that closely simulates the weightlessness of space.
Throughout the tests, the suit remained completely sealed and airtight, signifying it’s ready for more advanced evaluations, and ultimately, future missions.
For Axiom, having its own spacesuit makes its space station project more viable. None of the other proposed stations presently have suits, though Vast’s Haven project is closely tied with SpaceX, and thus would likely work with that company to upgrade SpaceX’s spacesuit used on Jared Isaacman’s last private orbital mission.
The four commercial stations under development, ranked by me based on their present level of progress:
The American space stations under development
- Haven-1, being built by Vast, with no NASA funds. The company is moving fast, with Haven-1 to launch and be occupied in 2026 for an estimated 30 days total. It hopes this actual hardware and manned mission will put it in the lead to win NASA’s phase 2 contract, from which it will build its much larger mult-module Haven-2 station..
- Axiom, being built by Axiom, has launched four tourist flights to ISS, with the fourth carrying government passengers from India, Hungary, and Poland. Though there have been rumors it has cash flow issues, development of its first module has been proceeding more or less as planned.
- Starlab, being built by a consortium led by Voyager Space, Airbus, and Northrop Grumman, with an extensive partnership agreements with the European Space Agency and others. Its station design has been approved by NASA, but it has built nothing. The company however has now raised $383 million in a public stock offering, which in addition to the $217.5 million provided by NASA gives it the capital to begin some construction.
- Orbital Reef, being built by a consortium led by Blue Origin and Sierra Space. Overall, Blue Origin has built almost nothing, while Sierra Space has successfully tested its inflatable modules, including a full scale version, and appears ready to start building its module for launch.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Click for original image.
Axiom, in partnership with the company KBR, has successfully now completed its first set of manned underwater tests of its commercial spacesuit, being built for NASA but owned by Axiom and available for use by others.
These initial crewed tests involved an astronaut being fully submerged in the NBL’s 6.2-million-gallon pool while wearing Axiom Space’s next-generation spacesuit, the AxEMU, which is being developed for use on NASA’s Artemis III mission. The goal was to evaluate the suit’s integrity in an environment that closely simulates the weightlessness of space.
Throughout the tests, the suit remained completely sealed and airtight, signifying it’s ready for more advanced evaluations, and ultimately, future missions.
For Axiom, having its own spacesuit makes its space station project more viable. None of the other proposed stations presently have suits, though Vast’s Haven project is closely tied with SpaceX, and thus would likely work with that company to upgrade SpaceX’s spacesuit used on Jared Isaacman’s last private orbital mission.
The four commercial stations under development, ranked by me based on their present level of progress:
The American space stations under development
- Haven-1, being built by Vast, with no NASA funds. The company is moving fast, with Haven-1 to launch and be occupied in 2026 for an estimated 30 days total. It hopes this actual hardware and manned mission will put it in the lead to win NASA’s phase 2 contract, from which it will build its much larger mult-module Haven-2 station..
- Axiom, being built by Axiom, has launched four tourist flights to ISS, with the fourth carrying government passengers from India, Hungary, and Poland. Though there have been rumors it has cash flow issues, development of its first module has been proceeding more or less as planned.
- Starlab, being built by a consortium led by Voyager Space, Airbus, and Northrop Grumman, with an extensive partnership agreements with the European Space Agency and others. Its station design has been approved by NASA, but it has built nothing. The company however has now raised $383 million in a public stock offering, which in addition to the $217.5 million provided by NASA gives it the capital to begin some construction.
- Orbital Reef, being built by a consortium led by Blue Origin and Sierra Space. Overall, Blue Origin has built almost nothing, while Sierra Space has successfully tested its inflatable modules, including a full scale version, and appears ready to start building its module for launch.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
NASA had been working on their own suit for many years.
What ever happened to that project?
Jerry Greenwood: NASA canceled its spacesuit project after spending more than a billion dollars and 14 years and producing nothing. See this post from 2021:
Inspector general slams NASA spacesuit program
NASA then issued contracts to private companies to do it. Axiom’s progress here is an example of private enterprise getting it done.