Nasa astronauts ‘suit-up’ in SpaceX’s futuristic spacesuits for the first time
Nasa has published the first images of SpaceX’s futuristic new spacesuits.
Elon Musk’s private space company has developed the suits for astronauts to wear on their journey up to the International Space Station (ISS).
Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley are both taking part in SpaceX’s upcoming Demo-2 mission which will test out the suits and the company’s Dragon crew capsule.
The clean white, grey and black suits look sleek and modern – a far cry from the bulky space suits of the past. They’re accented with an American flag on the shoulder and additional padding where needed.
‘The astronauts performed suit-up procedures alongside the SpaceX ground closeout team and suit engineers using the same ground support equipment, such as the seats and suit leak check boxes, that will be used on launch day,’ Nasa said in a statement.
‘Following crew suit-up, the teams performed a simulated launch countdown with the astronauts inside a Crew Dragon simulator and performed several emergency egress, or exit, scenarios.’
What’s new with our @Commercial_Crew astronauts? @AstroBehnken and @Astro_Doug recently performed suit-up & leak checks using the same Ground Support Equipment hardware that they will use for launch on @SpaceX’s Demo-2 mission. Keep up with their training: https://t.co/irbF3GDaC3 pic.twitter.com/lqIsMGWjYI
— NASA Astronauts (@NASA_Astronauts) August 8, 2019
The Crew Dragon Demo-2 mission was originally scheduled to take place in July, but has been postponed due to failed tests and technical difficulties.
No announcement has yet been made on when the mission will launch.