Artemis II astronauts ready for take off with new top-of-the-line spacesuits

NEAR CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (WSVN) — Astronauts aboard the Artemis II are dressed for space success, suited and booted with new top of the line gear.

Four astronauts are set for launch on the first lunar fly-around mission in over half a century.

The last time humans went to the moon was during the Apollo missions, when the crew wore white, bulky spacesuits that served double duty. What the astronauts wore for launch and return was the same as for moonwalks, since there wasn’t enough storage space for different outfits.

This time around, NASA has created new spacesuits for use inside of the Orion capsule, designed to hold four astronauts plus two sets of spacesuits.

NASA’s Dustin Gohmert, the Orion Crew Survival System manager, is responsible for engineering these suits.

“If everything goes to plan, normally, we will wear them for launch, we will doff the suits, meaning take them off. That’s our cool NASA word for takeoff. And then we will don the suits just prior to re-entry,” he said.

The spacesuits are designed to protect the astronauts during launch and landing, as well as during possible emergency scenarios.

“If something were to go wrong while you’re in transit to the moon or in lunar orbit, they’re designed to sustain you for that full duration of return. So they become your own personal-sized spacecraft that can last up to six days.” said Gohmert.

Even while they float in space, the astronauts still need to take care of their basic human needs, like eating, but thankfully these suits are designed to help fulfill them.

“A straw is inserted here, as the straw is inserted, it seals on an O-ring before it opens, the flapper inside that allows it to penetrate through but the helmet rotates, so I can rotate it to be at my mouth location,” he said.

And to use the bathroom.

“We would attach one of these hoses into it and it would ultimately go into this tank and this tank becomes the baffle between you and your junk in deep space, and we can fill it and cycle it as it fills up, it continuously allows for dumping of urine into space.” said Gohmert

While the suits aren’t drastically different from past generations, NASA officials say the pressures the astronauts will be at and the duration they can be in the suit are “unprecedented from what we’ve tried before.”

When astronauts walk on the surface of the moon in the next Artemis mission, a separate suit will be used.

“We’re about to make, we’re about to do something we haven’t done in 50 years, and we’re about to do it in a new way and it’s just so inspiring to be part of it,” said Gohmert.

In addition to NASA’s Artemis missions, the orange Orion suits are ultimately designed for use in future Mars transit missions.

You can catch the lift-off live Wednesday night on WSVN and ABC Miami. The launch window opens at 6:24 p.m.