NASA has a new astronaut suit and is tailored to fit those who will go aboard the Boeing's Starliner spacecraft.
According to a report in NASA, the suit is tailored to fit the astronauts in a comfortable way. This new suit also meets the requirements of NASA for being a safety suit and has easy functionality. The design for the new astronaut suit has been enhanced and is lighter now.
The suit also has new joint patterns and advanced materials to make it more flexible. The helmet and visor that the astronauts use are already attached to the suit instead of being detachable. Additionally, the new astronaut suit also has enhanced vent to keep astronauts cooler at the same time it can still pressurize the suit. It also has gloves that are touchscreen-sensitive.
A report in Gizmodo indicates that the new astronaut's suit of NASA looks similar to the one in "2001: A Space Odyssey." It's just that the new one looks more smoothed out than the one in the movie. The important part about the new suit is that it is lighter and more fitting to the ones who will wear it.
Boeing made astronauts test the suit by going in and out of a spacecraft. Richard Watson the subsystems manager for spacesuits for NASA's Commercial Crew Program shares that the suit serves as an emergency backup for astronauts to the spacecraft's life support systems.
Meanwhile, the spacesuits weigh about 20 lbs. each with all the accessories. This is much lighter compared to the old spacesuits that weigh about 30 lbs. It is noted in the report that the new suit is not designed for spacewalks according to a report in Space.com.
The same report indicates that NASA had been relying on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft to get astronauts to and from the orbit. This time, if everything works well and accordingly, Starliner and Dragon will make sure that NASA will not rely on a foreign spacecraft moving forward.
