Elon Musk Comes Forward To support NASA And Spacesuits as Moon Mission Moves Ahead April 2025

Elon Musk said on Tuesday that his space company SpaceX could help NASA build spacesuits for the Artemis Moon mission after the chief inspector of the US space agency reported serious problems that would make it impossible to land on the moon with a crew in 2024. The production of the first two ready-to-fly suits for the cosmic space motion recognition unit (xEMU) has been delayed. The agency was supposed to have these suits ready by November 2024, but now the NASA Office of Inspector General says there will be delays and the uniforms won't be ready for flights until at least April 2025.

CNBC space reporter Michael Schitz on Tuesday cited an Inspector General's report titled NASA's Next Generation Spacesuits, according to which NASA's Inspector General says space suit development delays are another factor preventing astronauts from landing on the moon in 2024."He added that with $ 420 million (about $ 3,125) and another $ 625 million (about $ 4,650), the spacesuits will not be ready for flight until  April 2025.

NASA's Inspector General says delays in spacesuit development are another factor making a 2024 astronaut Moon landing impossible.

With $420M spent and another $625M expected, suits won't be "ready for flight until April 2025 at the earliest."

Report: https://t.co/KgBHrddkNr pic.twitter.com/ZVPu1fcPPH

— Michael Sheetz (@thesheetztweetz) August 10, 2021

Responding to Schitz's tweet, Musk, himself a space enthusiast, wrote: "SpaceX can do this if need be."

NASA's Inspector General says delays in spacesuit development are another factor making a 2024 astronaut Moon landing impossible.

With $420M spent and another $625M expected, suits won't be "ready for flight until April 2025 at the earliest."

Report: https://t.co/KgBHrddkNr pic.twitter.com/ZVPu1fcPPH

— Michael Sheetz (@thesheetztweetz) August 10, 2021

NASA says in its report these delays due to funding shortfalls, COVID-19 exposure, and technical issues left no headroom on schedule for the delivery of two flight-ready spacesuits. The report states that, due to integration requirements, the suits will not be ready for flight until 2025. What's more, by the time the two ready-to-fly xEMUs become available, NASA will have spent over $ 1 billion (approximately Rs.7,445 crore) developing and assembling its next-generation spacesuits, it said.

Delay prevents moon landing in 2024

In another part of the report, the Inspector General said that by 2019 NASA had to design, test, and promote xEMUs and provide ready-made aircraft spacecraft for the ISS by 2023. NASA was required to provide a suit for Artemis III mission by 2028, according to the report, but when the message was extended to 2024, the space agency had to expedite its operations to get there.

In addition, NASA was forced to provide these suits for its integration program at HLS by March 31, 2023. This date has now been postponed from 20 months to November 2024 due to the fiscal year 2021 funding cuts for the development of spacesuits, the impact of COVID-19, and ongoing technical issues, according to the report.

As part of the Artemis mission, NASA will land the first woman and the first colored face on the moon, according to its website. It will also use innovative technology to explore the moon's surface more than ever before.