If you thought a $23 million space toilet was excessive, NASA has revealed work on a billion dollar space suit for its upcoming mission to the Moon. The ten figure drip is so pricey, in fact, that the space agency has been forced to delay its 2024 landing, stating that the suits won’t be “ready for flight until April 2025 at the earliest”.
According to an audit report, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has already spent $420 million developing new spacesuits for the journey, and plans on spending $625 million more.
“The development of new spacesuits is a critical component of achieving NASA’s goals of returning humans to the Moon, continuing safe operations on the International Space Station (ISS), and exploring Mars and other deep space locations,” the report read.
Unsurprisingly, Elon Musk decided to weigh in on the news. Responding to a tweet from reporter Michael Sheetz, who had posted about the new report, he said: “SpaceX could do it if need be.”
Commenting on a separate tweet showing the 27 different companies involved in supplying parts for the spacesuit, Musk suggested that the process had become too complicated. “Seems like too many cooks in the kitchen,” he said.
The Artemis mission will mark the first time humans will return to the Moon since 1972.
Elsewhere, NASA is currently looking for people to spend a year pretending to live on Mars in the name of science. If that seems like something you’d be interested in, applications are now open.