// Program Chronology
Development Timeline
70+ years of pressure garment evolution across four programs — scroll horizontally on mobile
🇺🇸 — United States
1917–1936
Pre-space pressure-suit ancestry
Early high-altitude concepts establish the core problem: pressure enclosure without losing human function.
1959–1963
Mercury IVA · B.F. Goodrich
First US manned suit. 22 lb, 3.7 psi, vehicle-fed. Flotation deficiency exposed after hatch jettison. Water survival drove all future IVA design.
1965–1966
Gemini G4C · David Clark
First US EVA. Gemini IV exhaustion proved EVA ops, body restraint and glove productivity are co-dependent.
1968–1975
Apollo A7L / A7LB + PLSS
Autonomous PLSS lunar work suit. ILC + Hamilton Standard. 201 lb, 6 hr. A7LB added 7hr for J-missions and rover traverses.
1983–2020s
Shuttle EMU → Enhanced EMU
Modular hard-upper-torso orbital EVA. 254 lb, 8hr. EVA-23 water intrusion near-miss 2013. OIG 2025 critical sustainment flag.
2022–
AxEMU · Axiom Space · Artemis
Commercial lunar suit for Artemis III south-pole EVA. Direct embodiment of 60 years of failure lessons. In qualification.
🇷🇺 — Soviet / Russian
1931–1940
Soviet pre-space era · TsAGI
High-altitude suit work established the mobility/pressure challenge before spaceflight. The problem statement was Russian before it was American.
1952 / 1961
Zvezda founded · SK-1 Vostok
SK-1 flew on Gagarin's Vostok. 300 hPa, maskless ventilation, automatic visor. SK-2 adapted for Tereshkova.
1965
BERKUT · First EVA · Leonov
World's first spacewalk. Suit ballooning nearly prevented re-entry. Leonov had to partially deflate to re-enter. Ingress became Requirement 1 worldwide.
1967–1972
KRECHET · Soviet Lunar Program
Semi-rigid rear-entry lunar suit. Cancelled before flight. Rear-entry concept became Orlan DNA. Most important unflown suit in history.
1973–present
SOKOL-K · Soyuz rescue
Long-lived Soyuz IVA rescue standard. Difficult donning, poor visibility. Upgrade latency documented as primary failure mode.
1977–present
Orlan-D → Orlan-MK · ISS
5.8 psi, 238 lb, 7hr EVA. Fleet operations shifted challenge from design to maintenance, drying, recharge and humidity control.
🇨🇳 — China / CMSA
1992
Project 921 · Program begins
China's modern crewed spaceflight program begins. Foundation for Shenzhou spacecraft and launch-entry suit requirements.
2003
Shenzhou 5 · Yang Liwei
China becomes third nation to send humans to space. Shenzhou IVA rescue suit proves operational in depressurization survival role.
2008
Feitian Gen-1 · First Chinese EVA
Zhai Zhigang becomes first Chinese person to walk in space. Domestic Feitian flies alongside imported Haiying/Orlan backup — pragmatic dual-track approach.
2021–present
Feitian Gen-2 · Tiangong station
~130 kg, ~$4.14m, >7hr EVA. 15 uses/3 years standard exceeded by 2025. China building sustained EVA fleet operations model.
2025
Feitian D/E · Lifespan upgrade
New station suits delivered by Tianzhou 9. Lifespan upgraded from 15 EVAs/3 years to 20 EVAs/4 years — fleet lifecycle maturity signal.
2024–2030
Wangyu · Lunar suit program
Unveiled 2024, named 2025. Target: crewed lunar landing before 2030. Dust/thermal protection, panoramic visor, low-g joints, Tansuo rover interface.
🇪🇺 — Europe / ESA
1980s–1992
Hermes / EVA suit precursor
European EVA suit work existed in frame of Hermes manned spacecraft. Architecture studies established rear-entry and hard-torso design principles.
1992–1995
EVA Suit 2000 · ESA + RKA
Joint ESA/Russian prototype. Rear hatch entry, ~2 min donning, adjustable limb lengths. Technically proven but never operationalized. Now on display at ESTEC.
1995–present
ESA astronauts in partner suits
Thomas Reiter first ESA EVA in Orlan 1995. ESA astronauts have used Orlan, EMU, ACES and SpaceX suits ever since — no European sovereign EVA capability.
2023
ESA Suit Design Competition
ESA invites public concepts for future European EVA visual identity. 90+ ideas, 5 winners. Branding exercise — not a technical development program.
2024–2026
EuroSuit · CNES + Decathlon
European IVA prototype by CNES, Spartan Space, MEDES and Decathlon. Autonomous don/doff under 2 minutes. Tested on ISS by Sophie Adenot during εpsilon 2026.
2020s–2040
Terrae Novae · Lunar posture
ESA exploration partner in Artemis/Gateway. No public ESA-owned lunar EVA suit prime. Near-term lunar EVA likely partner-provided. Subsystem opportunities remain open.