SpaceX's Elon Musk first shared a photo of the company's Spacesuit a couple of weeks ago. While the photo only showed the spacesuit from the torso upward, the whole getup itself looked as if it came from a sci-fi novel. Now, Musk has shared another look at the spacesuit, this time showing the design from head to toe.
The image, which Musk first posted on Instagram, shows a full-body look at the Spacesuit. Similar to last time, it looks like instead of dummy model, an astronaut is actually wearing the suit. The person is standing in front of the Crew Dragon capsule, the spacecraft SpaceX is currently building to take NASA astronauts back and forth the International Space Station as part of the space agency's Commercial Crew Program.
SpaceX Shares Second Look At Spacesuit
In the new photo, one finally sees the glove and boot design for the first time. Also, the pants seem to feature flex zones, seen in the knee area, presumably for maximum mobility suppose an astronaut needs to bend their legs. There are also similar paddings in the back for comfort since these folks are going to sit inside the capsule for a while.
The boots also seem to have been designed for maximum mobility and comfort. They look lightweight and sleek instead of bulky and unseemly. Some people might be wondering why the suit doesn't look like the traditional spacesuits they often see in sci-fi movies such as Interstellar or The Martian. Well, the suit pictured above isn't designed for extravehicular activity at all, meaning astronauts can't wear this to venture outside their spacecraft. Instead, astronauts are supposed to wear the suit while inside the capsule or when moving to other vehicles under pressurized states.
When the first photo showing the spacesuit was released late August, Musk confirmed that the spacesuit actually worked and was not a mockup. So, it's safe to assume the spacesuit depicted in the new photo isn't mock-up as well.
SpaceX And NASA's Commercial Crew Program
SpaceX received a contract from NASA worth billions of dollars to build a spacecraft that'll carry astronauts to the ISS. Similarly, Boeing also received a contract. Musk's company is developing the Dragon 2, while Boeing is building the CST-100 Starliner.
SpaceX is planning to have a demonstration mission in early 2018. A manned test is supposed to follow months later, bringing two astronauts aboard, said NASA.
