Elon Musk posted the first official photo of his SpaceX suit on Instagram this morning. Teasing that more details would come out in the next few days. Musk said that the suit actually works, and was tested to double vacuum pressure. The suit itself looks very “spacey”. Musk notes that it was “incredibly hard” to balance the suit’s look and its function. While Musk didn’t note this, the SpaceX suit is 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 to be 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. The SpaceX suit that was revealed today looks a lot like a similar photo that surfaced on reddit a few years ago. The design is very elegant, but looks a lot like something out of a science fiction movie. It also pays homage to the old school suits that NASA astronauts wore to the moon.
What do you think of the design? SpaceX chose to develop their own suit for their astronauts in-house, which is a bit different than what Boeing does. Who actually partnered with spacesuit specialist David Clark. But this is kind of the way SpaceX does things. They have brought a lot of design and manufacturing in-house in order to lower cost and achieve greater control over the supply chain.
When I think of space exploration, I think of NASA. More specifically, I think of many space movies. And, honestly, that’s kind of the vibe I get from this design, as well as the SpaceX website. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely think it is really neat, but it seems out of this world. Literally. If you get a chance, head over to the SpaceX website and read up on what they have done and what they plan to do.
One of their missions includes sending private citizens into space. Private citizens! The website states: “Like the Apollo astronauts before them, these individuals will travel into space carrying the hopes and dreams of all humankind, driven by the universal human spirit of exploration. We expect to conduct health and fitness tests, as well as begin initial training later this year. Other flight teams have also expressed strong interest and we expect more to follow. Additional information will be released about the flight teams, contingent upon their approval and confirmation of the health and fitness test results.”
Crazy, right? Well, yes. But it’s our reality in 2017. I mean, I feel like this is a bit mind blowing, but I also think that maybe it shouldn’t be. It is 2017, after all. NASA has been sending people and rockets into space for decades. But maybe it’s because it could be my neighbour. Well, probably not MY neighbour, but you get where I’m going with this. The world is changing. The universe is changing. And most importantly technology is changing. At an incredibly fast pace. Getting back to the suit – it does look kind of weird. Like it came out of a movie. I’m looking forward to seeing what details come out from Elon Musk over the next few days or months.