Spacesuit delays 'could hold up Moon landing'

Nasa's big mission to land humans back on the Moon could be delayed because new spacesuits might not be ready in time, a new report says.

Just weeks after Artemis II's successful voyage to the dark side of the Moon, a report by committee overseeing NASA's work has warned that the suits might not be available until 2031.

But the Artemis IV mission - which aims to land the first humans on the Moon since 1972 - is currently planned for 2028.

So why is this an issue? Read on to find out more.

Artemis II was only a few weeks ago but already Nasa is looking ahead.

The Artemis III mission is set for 2027.

That will involve a crew heading to low-Earth orbit to practice docking with a lunar lander, in preparation for the landing.

Then the 2028 Artemis IV mission is aiming for the Moon landing itself.

Nasa commissioned two suits for the Moon landing; one to handle microgravity at the International Space Station (ISS) and another to wear on the Moon.

And the new suits aren't cheap - the come with a projected price tag of a whopping $3.1 billion.

In 2024 one of the companies making the suits dropped out, because it said it was unable to meet NASA's deadlines, but the remaining suit-making company, Axiom, promised they'd be ready for late 2027.

But the report claims this is "overly optimistic", given all the testing that needs to happen.

But if the suits are delayed, they also won't be able to be tested before the International Space Station is set to be scrapped in 2030.

This isn't the first time concerns about spacesuits have come up. In 2021, a similar report warned that other space missions could be delayed because suits weren't ready.

The report said NASA would have to continue using a "problematic" spacesuit and "significantly adjust its lunar plans" if it didn't get the suits on time.

The current style of suits were designed over 50 years ago, according to NASA, and have had no major updates for at least 20 years.

NASA said it has already "achieved a significant milestone in the development of the next-generation lunar spacesuits, and Nasa boss Jared Isaacman said the agency expects to send astronauts back to the Moon as planned in just two years.

"NASA is not taking a passive role in any component of America's return to the lunar surface and building a Moon base," Mr Isaacman wrote on social media.

"I am confident that when NASA is ready to land on the Moon in 2028, our astronauts will be wearing Axiom suits."