NASA announced yesterday that it had awarded a contract to Oceaneering International Inc for the design, development, and production of a new space suit system for manned space missions. The contract is a cost-plus-award-fee for a performance period from June 2008 to September 2014 with a value of $183.8 million.

The test period will cover everything from the development and testing to the first flight of the new suit, NASA says that suits and support system will be needed for as many as four astronauts on moon voyages and as many as six for the ISS.

"The award of the spacesuit contract completes the spaceflight hardware requirements for the Constellation Program's first human flight in 2015," said Jeff Hanley, Constellation program manager at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. Contracts for the Orion crew capsule and the Ares I rocket were awarded during the past two years.

Via NASA