The Design of the SpaceX Spacesuit Explained

On Saturday, May 30 at 3:22pm, for a glorious moment we were given a glimpse of the future of space travel. The successful launch of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 reorbital rocket system carrying the Crew Dragon to the International Space Station was historic in successfully sending NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley within a privately developed spacecraft. The mission also revealed the next generation of astronautical wear, the SpaceX spacesuit.

Alongside the amount of life-supporting technologies tethered from seat to suit via “umbilical cord”, each spacesuit is bespoke to its wearers for optimal safety and comfort, as described by SpaceX spacesuits and crew equipment manager, Chris Trigg:

“Obviously it’s protecting the crew’s head…but it also houses the microphones, as well as the valves that are regulating pressure in the suit. We had to design the gloves so that they would work with the touchscreen, so the gloves also have to do a number of other things like the rest of the suit. So all of those things had to come together…the suit is not just a piece of hardware, it’s not just a suit. It’s a very personal thing. It’s Bob’s suit. It’s Doug’s suit.”

When comparing the suits worn during the mission above with their 2017 preview revealed via Elon Musk’s Instagram (shown below), one can see little has changed at the surface level.

Image: Elon Musk/SpaceX

“The suit is really kind of one part of the bigger Dragon system. It’s really part of the vehicle, so we think of it as kind of a suit seat system,” says SpaceX spacesuits and crew equipment manager Chris Trigg.

One simply needs to look back at the historic timeline of NASA spacesuits over 50+ years to recognize how much more sleek the SpaceX designs are, offering astronauts greater mobility and comfort at the inception of privatized space travel.

Photos courtesy of SpaceX.