The Orion Crew Survival System is the orange pressure suit NASA's Artemis crews wear inside Orion for launch, re-entry and emergencies. Built by the David Clark Company with NASA, it first flew with a crew on Artemis II in April 2026 and can keep its wearer alive for up to six days if the cabin loses pressure.
The Orion Crew Survival System (OCSS) is the suit astronauts wear inside Orion during launch, re-entry and other risky parts of an Artemis mission. It is a launch and entry suit, not a spacewalk suit: it has no backpack and plugs into the spacecraft for air, power and cooling. The David Clark Company of Worcester, Massachusetts, which calls it the Model S1041, builds it with NASA's Orion suit team at the Johnson Space Center.
The outer layer is International Orange so a crew can be seen in the ocean if they have to leave the capsule before the recovery teams arrive. Unlike the Shuttle-era suits, which came in small, medium and large, each OCSS is made to measure for its wearer, and the range of sizes runs from a 1st-percentile woman to a 99th-percentile man.
The suit first went to the Moon and back on Artemis I in 2022, worn by a mannequin. Its first crewed flight was Artemis II, launched on 1 April 2026, when Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen wore it around the Moon. David Clark is now building suits for Artemis III, IV and V.
Three jobs, from the launch pad to the ocean.
Worn for the most dangerous phases: launch, re-entry and other dynamic moments, and some high-risk work near the Moon.
If Orion loses pressure the suit becomes a safe haven for up to six days (144 hours). Orion supplies oxygen, takes away carbon dioxide and pumps chilled water through the cooling garment underneath.
The orange cover makes the crew easy to spot if they have to leave the capsule before recovery teams reach them.
What the suit is made of and what it does, as NASA and the maker describe it.
Artemis II launched on 1 April 2026 and splashed down in the Pacific on 10 April (US time), after a flight around the Moon. On the fifth day the crew tested their suits in flight: leak checks, getting into their seats, how well they could move, eating and drinking through the helmet port, and putting the suits on and pressurising them quickly.
The flight also tested the toilet. When its vent line ran slowly, the crew switched to backup collection bags that empty through a second vent. NASA has not said that anyone wore a nappy under the suit.
Every Artemis crew wears the suit inside Orion. The Moon-walking suit is a different one.
First crewed flight: four astronauts around the Moon and back.
A test in Earth orbit: Orion docks with the commercial Moon landers. No landing.
The first landing planned: the crew fly in this suit, then wear Axiom's AxEMU on the Moon.
The next-mission date updates itself from the launch schedule.