Astronaut Bruce McCandless II approaches his maximum distance from the vehicle during a 1984 spacewalk, becoming the first astronaut to manoeuvre about in space untethered Nasa

The International Space Station will operate until 2024, at least; but Nasa’s old space suits were never meant to be used on the ISS, let alone support an extended mission. Now, Nasa is laying out plans to keep the suits working for the next seven years, at least.

Earlier this year, the US Congress passed the Nasa Transition Authorization Act. As part of this act, Nasa was instructed to provide a detailed plan for how it expects to manage the remaining space suits for operations on the International Space Station until 2024. The report from Congress expressed concern over the performance of the remaining suits, and the gap they may leave if a new suit is not ready before the ISS stops operating.


Now, WIRED has obtained a copy of the report put together by Nasa and submitted to Congress.

The space suits, or extra-vehicular activity suits (EVAs) worn by Nasa astronauts when they visit the ISS were first put together in 1978, designed to be used during short Space Shuttle missions before returning to Earth for maintenance. These were named the extravehicular mobility units, or EMU.

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At first they were supposed to have a lifetime of 15 years, but in 1993 this lifetime was extended so the suits could be used for space walks on the space station – a completely different purpose to what they were designed for.

Since then, components have been replaced and the suits have been refurbished, but they are still in use now.


Out of the original fleet of 18 space suits, there are 11 left. The ISS is going to be in operation until 2024, at least, and reports earlier this year raised questions about whether the remaining 11 suits would be enough to support activities on the station until this date.

Nasa

According to the Nasa report, designing and building new space suits before 2024 is not an option. Instead, the agency hopes to make its current fleet of 11 last another seven years by keeping a close eye on their performance and checking their parts regularly.

Nasa expects the suits to be used fewer times in the future as robots take over from humans. “Robotic maintenance has the potential to reduce the number of EVAs as more and more tasks can be completed via robotic activity,” the report explains. With this in mind, Nasa estimates the suits will be used eight times in 2018, 11 times in 2019 and then eight times each year from 2020 until 2024. This gives a total of 59 more outings for the old space suits.


“The advanced space suit is integral to Nasa’s Exploration Systems Program and I’m glad to see Nasa has a plan in place for developing it,” says Lamar Smith, chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee. “The Committee will continue to work with Nasa to track the execution of the plan.”

Life beyond 2024

If the decision is made to extend the lifetime of the ISS beyond 2024, which is still possible, Nasa will have to think again. “If ISS operations were to be extended beyond 2024, then the duration of the extension would lead Nasa to reassess whether a new ISS EMU would be required,” the report reads. “Nasa’s plans are crafted so as not to preclude further extension of the existing EMU design or developing a new EMU design.”

Since president Trump decided to axe the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM), Nasa says there will be no need for the agency to develop a space suit for that purpose. This will free up some of the space suit engineers and designers to be able to work on the potential extension of the ISS, or other future missions that will require a new kind of space suit. For now, at least, the iconic suits will remain an integral part of Nasa’s plans.