NASA has been using the current spacesuits on the International Space Station for decades and they are showing their age. The agency has had issues not only with finding the proper sizes to fit its increasingly diverse astronaut corps, but also with degradation of some suit components. Now NASA is turning to two commercial companies: Axiom Space and Collins Aerospace, a subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies, to build and maintain its new generation of spacesuits. Under the Exploration Extravehicular Activity Services Contract, or xEVAS, NASA is providing Collins and Axiom, along with a number of their industry partners, with up to $3.5 billion through 2034. CNBC got a behind-the-scenes look at the new suit that Collins Aerospace is designing in collaboration with partners ILC Dover and Oceaneering. NASA hopes to use this new suit on the International Space Station by 2026.

Chapters:
00:00 — Intro
02:39 — Dire need
08:00 — The Collins suit
12:48 — Future missions

Produced by: Magdalena Petrova
Supervising Producer: Jeniece Pettitt
Graphics: Christina Locopo, Mallory Brangan
Additional Camera: Andrew Evers
Post-production Support: Katie Tarasov, Erin Black

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NASA’s Next-Generation Spacesuits — A Behind-The-Scenes Look