3-D spacesuits: The evolution from Mercury and Apollo 11 to Space X

Designed to inspire

Could be used by SpaceX as early as 2019, during missions to fly NASA astronauts to the International Space Station

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The SpaceX suit is one piece, with the boots, helmet and gloves all connected — minimalist, efficient, inspiring. A version of this suit has been flown to space on a mannequin in 2018, when SpaceX famously launched a red Tesla Roadster into space aboard the first Falcon Heavy rocket, and again on a mannequin earlier this year in a test flight of the Dragon spacecraft. Astronauts will wear the suit throughout launch and ascent into orbit, and on the way back to Earth.

Robin

This is a spacesuit every space tourist wants to wear. It is social-media friendly, you want to take selfies in that. Even the way the helmet is designed, with that black facade, is a little intimidating, but not full Darth Vader.

Christian

The helmet is 3-D printed, with padding customized to each astronaut’s head. The visor is designed to give astronauts a broad field of view and can rotate open.

Robin

Everything is completely understated, which makes it so cool. If you know that is the SpaceX logo you are inside the club.

Augmented reality: Take a closer look at SpaceX's 3-D printed helmet in augmented reality by tapping on the picture below.

Christian

The suit’s outer layer is made with fire-retardant materials. The gray parts are Nomex, a flame-resistant material. The whites are a Teflon-like material.

Robin

The sides are darker and they create the perfect swimmer’s physique, a silhouette of strength. That is a fashion trick, to create the illusion of a particular shape. It could even turn into an hourglass if you are a woman inside that suit. From all five suits, this one is the most amenable to a woman’s figure.

Christian

Zippers on the wrists allow astronauts to use their bare hands on the controls. But the gloves also work with the touch screens inside of SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft.

Christian

On the thigh, there is a single location for an umbilical to attach, which provides the life-support system and communications.

Christian

The suit is meant to be easy to put on. Instead of a hard-to-reach zipper that runs down the back, the zipper runs inside a seam inside the legs, from one ankle to the other.

Robin

Aesthetically, it is sleek and incredibly elegant. With the earlier ones, the technology was so obvious in the suit. They looked complicated, and it took an enormous amount of skill to be able to wear them. This looks so easy to wear, devoid of anything that looks highly technical or complicated.

Robin

If you pay a bazillion dollars to go into space and you get this — I’m assuming you get to keep it — you will wear those boots again! It seems you can pull it apart and continue to wear it and keep the bragging rights going.

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