Either Boeing or Space X will make history next year as they vie to be the first firm to send astronauts to the International Space Station.
But Boeing has already clinched a much more important title: creator of the world’s jazziest spacesuit.
Astronauts riding the firm’s Starliner spaceship will be kitted out with a striking blue suit fitted with some pretty incredible features.
The suit is among the lightest ever developed, despite boasting an incorporated helmet and visor, trainers, touchscreen-sensitive gloves and cooling vents.
The tailor-made clothing, which resembles a high-tech onesie, lets water vapour pass out, but keeps air inside, keeping the astronauts cool and safe.
In the unlikely event that the Starliner loses pressure, the vents close up, pressurising the suit immediately.
“The most important part is that the suit will keep you alive,” astronaut Eric Boe said. “It is a lot lighter, more form-fitting and it’s simpler, which is always a good thing. Complicated systems have more ways they can break, so simple is better on something like this.”
The final design is the result of weeks of testing, with astronauts climbing in and out of a mock-up Starliner to ensure the suit is flexible enough to accommodate every possible position and stretch.
“The most important part is that the suit will keep you alive,” astronaut Eric Boe said. “It is a lot lighter, more form-fitting and it’s simpler, which is always a good thing. Complicated systems have more ways they can break, so simple is better on something like this.”
Boe and fellow astronauts Bob Behnken, Doug Hurley and Suni Williams are training for flight tests using spacecraft under development for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, slated for launch next year.
The astronauts will board both the Starliner and SpaceX’s Crew Dragon systems over several flights, but it’s not yet clear which will be first off the launch pad.