NASA unveils future moon spacesuits

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on Tuesday unveiled two prototype spacesuits for Artemis astronauts to be used during the upcoming moon missions.

The agency's Artemis program aims to land the first woman and the next man on the moon by 2024, reported CNN.

"We've been working for a long time to build spacesuits that will do the job on the moon and going on to Mars," said Amy Ross, a spacesuit engineer at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Ross further added, "With this, astronauts will be able to reach across the suit and lift their arms above their heads, which they can't do today and couldn't do during the Apollo program."

Meanwhile, NASA's administrator Jim Bridenstine said: "You remember Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, they bunny hopped on the surface of the moon. Well, now we're actually going to be able to walk on the surface of the moon, which is very different than our suits in the past."

"The suit for the planned landing at the lunar south pole is called the Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit, or xEMU, because the red, white and blue suit itself is a bit like a spaceship in the way it protects the astronauts. This will be worn during excursions on the moon and, later, on Mars," the agency said.

Further, it added: "The second orange suit called the Orion Crew Survival System will be worn during launch and re-entry in the Orion spacecraft and provide thermal protection for the astronauts."

According to NASA, the new suits are designed to keep out the dust so that it doesn't infiltrate the life support system and have the capability to keep an astronaut safe between the temperature extremes of minus 250 degrees to 250 degrees Fahrenheit.