The complete guide to every spacesuit ever built — from Mercury pressure suits to the Artemis-era AxEMU. Comparison tables, technical specifications, interactive timelines and deep engineering breakdowns for every suit that has protected humans in space.
The spacesuits actively in use or in development for near-term missions — from NASA's 40-year-old EMU still used on the ISS to the Axiom/Prada AxEMU being built for Artemis III lunar surface operations. SpaceX's EVA suit made history during Polaris Dawn as the first commercial spacewalk suit. Each profile covers specs, mission history and engineering details.
Spacesuits designed and operated by Russia and China for their crewed space programmes. Russia's Orlan suit has been in continuous development since the 1970s, while China's Feitian has evolved from a licensed Orlan derivative into an indigenously designed EVA system for Tiangong station spacewalks.
The pioneering spacesuits of the Apollo era and before. The Apollo A7L suit walked twelve humans on the Moon between 1969 and 1972. Understanding these designs is essential context for appreciating how modern suits like the AxEMU have evolved.
Side-by-side data for every suit: mass, pressure, mobility, life support duration, thermal range, missions flown and cost. Plus a deep-dive into how spacesuits actually work — the 14 layers, PLSS backpack, thermal regulation, communications and mobility joints that keep astronauts alive in the vacuum of space.
The missions that defined spacesuit history — from Polaris Dawn, the first commercial spacewalk, to the broader Polaris programme that will culminate in the first crewed Starship flight.
The next generation of space stations being built by private companies — each will need new spacesuits for EVA operations. Axiom's AxEMU is designed to serve both the Artemis programme and Axiom's own commercial station.