NASA has announced that it awarded a contract to design and develop the next generation of spacesuits for its astronauts on board the International Space Station (ISS) and for missions to the moon to United States firms Axiom Space and Collins Aerospace following a yearlong tender process.

The winners of the Extravehicular Activity Services (xEVAS) Contract were Axiom Space – which has organized commercial flights to the ISS and is working on its own private space station – and Collins Aerospace.

"This is a historic moment for us," Vanessa Wyche, director of NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston told reporters.

"History will be made with the suits when we get to the Moon. We will have our first person of color and our first woman that will be wearers and users of these suits in space."

The values of the contracts have not yet been announced but they have a combined ceiling of $3.5 billion through 2034.

NASA could end up picking both companies, just one, or add more companies later.

Experts at the U.S. space agency laid out the technical standards they required of the suits, with the companies responsible for designing, certifying and producing the suits as well as support equipment for both the ISS and the Artemis missions to return to the Moon.

"The existing spacesuit has been the workhorse for the agency for 40 years," said Dina Contella, operations integration manager for the ISS.

The next generation will be more flexible, versatile and durable.

NASA originally wanted to build the suits itself but began transitioning to industry partners after the agency's auditor said the suit was facing significant development delays.

The spacesuits currently worn by NASA astronauts on the ISS are rapidly becoming outdated, with incidents of water accumulating in helmets on spacewalks causing additional concern.

The new suits may be ready for initial testing as early as 2025 and are intended for use by NASA astronauts on the Artemis mission, which will land U.S. astronauts on the moon again for the first time since the early 1970s, and ultimately, on NASA's first manned mission to Mars.