Astronauts traveling aboard Elon Musk’s Dragon Capsule will wear formfitting white-and-black spacesuits that bear little resemblance to their NASA forebears, the SpaceX founder revealed Wednesday, a pivotal development in his quest to launch crewed missions to and from the International Space Station and beyond.
Though he offered few details in his sneak-peak Instagram post — “More in the days to follow,” a brief message promises — the tech billionaire, who is also CEO of automaker Tesla, indicated his spacesuit is functional and tested to withstand pressure loss while traveling through space. And in a nod to the design, he noted how “incredibly hard” it was to marry aesthetics and survivability.
Wednesday’s unveiling comes as SpaceX and aeronautics giant Boeing each have struggled to meet deadlines for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, a cost-savings partnership between the agency and private industry focused on facilitating travel to the space station. It could be 2019 before either is certified to fly astronauts there, though both hope to conduct their first crewed test flights next year.
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