Elon Musk has shared the
official first photo of his SpaceX space suit on Instagram, teasing that more
details will come in a few days. Musk says the suit actually works, and was
tested to double vacuum pressure. The suit itself is very white and very
spacey, and Musk acknowledges that it was “incredibly hard” to balance the
suit’s look and its function.
Musk didn’t specify, but the
SpaceX suits are meant to be worn by astronauts when riding inside the
company’s Dragon Capsule. They’re pressure suits, so they’re not meant for
spacewalks, but are worn by astronauts during transport in case the capsule depressurizes.
The suits will be worn by
NASA astronauts for the commercial crew program when SpaceX starts launching
people to and from the International Space Station. In January, Boeing revealed
its own spacesuit design that astronauts will wear on route to the ISS.
The reveal today is similar
to photos of a SpaceX suit that surfaced years ago on reddit. The design is
very elegant and feels right at home in a sci-fi flick, while simultaneously
paying homage to the old school suits NASA astronauts wore to the Moon.
We compiled a list of
science fiction spacesuits from worst to best, though in my opinion, this real
SpaceX suit tops the list of best.
Via The Verge