Listen to this audio excerpt from Dustin Gohmert, Orion Crew Survival System (OCSS) manager:
During NASA’s Artemis II mission around the Moon, the astronauts inside the Orion spacecraft will be wearing specialized pressure suits designed to protect them throughout their journey. At NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Dustin Gohmert leads the team responsible for these suits, known as the Orion Crew Survival System (OCSS).
“We work with the crew to say, ‘Here’s this design concept we have. How does this really work in the spaceflight environment?’” Gohmert said. “As we evolve the design, we take the crew’s input and we adapt the suit over time to take into account not only the desire we have for safety, but the real-world impacts that it has.”
The suits will protect astronauts on launch day, throughout high-risk parts of missions near the Moon, during the high-speed return to Earth, and in emergency situations if such events arise. The OCSS suits are engineered to sustain life for up to six days in the event of an emergency, and can provide the astronauts oxygen, hydration, food, and waste management needed on their way back to Earth.
“In an emergency, you’re essentially living in a personal spacecraft that’s only an inch bigger than your body,” Gohmert said. “That’s the reality of survival in space.”
Gohmert’s team in the Orion Crew Survival Systems Lab manages every phase of the suits, including processing, designing, qualifying, and testing them for the mission, as well as integrating them with the Orion spacecraft. Their work addresses engineering challenges, such as how much internal pressure the suit can safely maintain and for how long.
The team custom-builds each suit to fit the anatomy of the astronauts. Crew members undergo detailed sizing and multiple fit checks to ensure precision, and their feedback is a key part of the design evolution and refinement of the suit.
After earning his bachelor’s in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas at San Antonio and his master’s in engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, Gohmert joined United Space Alliance before becoming a NASA civil servant. He worked through the end of the Space Shuttle Program and later transitioned to Orion. Working on the suit throughout his career has been both technically challenging and a deeply personal responsibility.
dustin Gohmert
Orion Crew Survival Systems (OCSS) Manager
As NASA prepares to explore deep space with Artemis II, Gohmert’s role will play a part in safely sending crew members around the Moon and returning them home.
“I was born after the last Moon landing,” he said. “To actually be a part of the next round is kind of overwhelming. It’s awe-inspiring in every possible way.”
