Collins Aerospace completes key spacesuit testing milestone

Astronauts who work onboard the U.S. side of the International Space Station are one step closer to getting new spacesuits.

On Tuesday, teams with Collins Aerospace, an RTX business, completed a testing series called the Crew Capability Assessment. This is one of several milestones laid in NASA’s Exploration Extravehicular Activity Services (xEVAS) contract valued at $97.2 million and awarded to Collins in December 2022.

Collins is designing its suit in collaboration with ILC Dover and Oceaneering. Former NASA astronauts, John “Danny” Olivas and Dan Burbank, each donned the suit and performed a series of test objectives while onboard a Zero Gravity plane that’s able to perform parabolic maneuvers to simulate microgravity for short bursts. They were surrounded by several support personnel who were gathering data about the suit performance.

In total, they performed 40 parabolas during the flight. Collins said the primary goals included “evaluation of the suit’s pressure garment system fit and functionality, use of International Space Station tools and interfaces, and reviewed performance of the new Extravehicular Mobility Unit, or EMU, against the current design.”

“Throughout a series of entry and exit tasks, crew mobility assessments and suit donning, we observed that the suit performed as designed, affording increased range of motion and ease of movement,” said Peggy Guirgis, general manager, Space Systems, for Collins Aerospace, in a statement.

During the test, they also had the former astronauts perform maneuvers through a simulated airlock that has similar dimensions as that of the one onboard the ISS.