To Mars… in style. SpaceX unveils sleek new spacesuit for crewed flights
by Marcia Dunn, The Associated Press
CEO Elon Musk offered a first peek at the rocket firm's astronaut outfit. SpaceX has an ambitious agenda to send Americans back into space and eventually, to Mars
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.—SpaceX has unveiled a sleek white spacesuit for astronauts on its crewed flights coming up next year.
Chief executive Elon Musk made the big reveal via Instagram Aug. 23. He says it’s not him in the new suit, rather a SpaceX engineer.
SpaceX is developing a crew version of its Dragon cargo capsule for NASA astronauts. Boeing is also working to get U.S. astronauts flying again from home soil. Boeing is going blue for spacesuits for its Starliner capsules.
U.S. astronauts last rocketed away from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in 2011. They’ve since been riding Russian rockets to get to the International Space Station.
Musk says the new SpaceX suit has been tested on Earth—and works. He says it was incredibly hard to balance aesthetics and function. Beyond manned near-Earth spaceflight, the businessman, who also heads electric car maker Tesla Inc., has an ambitious agenda to send humans to Mars.
