NASA¡¯s Commercial Crew Program is set to take its next flight in SpaceX Dragon spacecraft for the first time ever on May 27.?
For this, the Falcon 9 launch vehicle and Crew Dragon spacecraft are already onsite at SpaceX¡¯s facilities in Florida.
The take off has been termed as Crew Dragon¡¯s second demonstration mission aka Demo-2. For more than a decade, more than 90% of the trips to the International Space Station have been conducted in a Soyuz spacecraft.?
Demo 2 will see NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley finalise SpaceX¡¯s efforts to bring back space flight to the US. In the process, the two astronauts will be wearing SpaceX¡¯s in-house design - Crew Dragon suits, spacesuits that look straight out of a sci-fi movie.
A look at them and you will know that the spacesuits are nothing like ever seen before. Though their debut will mark a trip to the International Space Station, they look like they have been designed to explore the far off depths of our solar system, including a much-touted trip to Mars according to Elon Musk.
SpaceX says that the suits are ¡°custom-tailored¡± for all the crew members with a single piece. The highlights, however, are common, including 3D printed space suit helmets, heel sliders for securing feet to the footrest as well as a connection for the suit to the cabin, with just one plug.
Understandably, the suit is not just all looks. They are meant to be a crucial protection between life and death for the wearer. That is done by providing a pressurized environment for the crew members in case an undesired situation such as cabin depressurization arises. For now, the suits have been designed for use within the Dragon capsule.
A long standing expectation with SpaceX is to have a design laden with tech features. The Crew Dragon suits are true to this, with features like touchscreen compatible gloves, hearing protection, flame resistance and an ability to ¡°route communications and cooling systems to the astronauts aboard during regular flight¡° as per SpaceX.
The suits by themselves have provided critical data to SpaceX in the past, with the Demo-1 mission. The same will be applied for all future missions, Benji Reed, director of crew mission management at SpaceX confirmed to Inverse in a press conference.