Skip to main content

SpaceX offers an inside look at how it created its futuristic Dragon space suits

When SpaceX set out to fly humans on board its spacecraft, it decided to create its own spacesuit in-house. That’s a very different approach from most spacesuit projects, including those at NASA, which typically involve tapping in outside specialist contractors with a long history of experience to help with the work. In a new video, SpaceX provides a look at why they took on that task themselves, and how their unique and modern-looking spacesuits are designed to be the perfect complement to their Dragon spacecraft, both aesthetically and functionally.

SpaceX’s Chris Trigg, Space Suits and Crew Equipment Manager, and Maria Sundeen, Leed Space Suit Specialist take you through the concept, design and production process for the SpaceX suit, which was worn by NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley on their launch to the International Space Station aboard Dragon at the end of May. They’ll don them again later this week for the return trip.

Trigg notes that the suit is really one part of a system that includes the Dragon crew seat, and is designed to plug in and provide them everything they need automatically. He also explains the thinking behind the helmet design, and why they needed to create gloves that provide pressurization and protection while also offering touchscreen compatibility to work with the Dragon’s control surfaces.

As mentioned, Dragon is set to come back from the ISS on August 1, splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean with astronauts on board on August 2, provided weather and everything else cooperates.



from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/39yTiKN
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Max Q: Psyche(d)

In this issue: SpaceX launches NASA asteroid mission, news from Relativity Space and more. © 2023 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/h6Kjrde via IFTTT
Post a Comment
Read more

Max Q: Anomalous

Hello and welcome back to Max Q! Last week wasn’t the most successful for spaceflight missions. We’ll get into that a bit more below. In this issue: First up, a botched launch from Virgin Orbit… …followed by one from ABL Space Systems News from Rocket Lab, World View and more Virgin Orbit’s botched launch highlights shaky financial future After Virgin Orbit’s launch failure last Monday, during which the mission experienced an  “anomaly” that prevented the rocket from reaching orbit, I went back over the company’s financials — and things aren’t looking good. For Virgin Orbit, this year has likely been completely turned on its head. The company was aiming for three launches this year, but everything will remain grounded until the cause of the anomaly has been identified and resolved. It’s unclear how long that will take, but likely at least three months. Add this delay to Virgin’s dwindling cash reserves and you have a foundation that’s suddenly much shakier than before. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

What’s Stripe’s deal?

Welcome to  The Interchange ! If you received this in your inbox, thank you for signing up and your vote of confidence. If you’re reading this as a post on our site, sign up  here  so you can receive it directly in the future. Every week, I’ll take a look at the hottest fintech news of the previous week. This will include everything from funding rounds to trends to an analysis of a particular space to hot takes on a particular company or phenomenon. There’s a lot of fintech news out there and it’s my job to stay on top of it — and make sense of it — so you can stay in the know. —  Mary Ann Stripe eyes exit, reportedly tried raising at a lower valuation The big news in fintech this week revolved around payments giant Stripe . On January 26, my Equity Podcast co-host and overall amazingly talented reporter Natasha Mascarenhas and I teamed up to write about how Stripe had set a 12-month deadline for itself to go public, either through a direct listing or by pursuin...
Post a Comment
Read more