As part of his quest to launch crewed missions to and from the International Space Station and beyond, Elon Musk has shared a pivitol development in the form of new spacesuits.
Intended to be worn by astronauts flying SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, the photo posted on Musk’s Instagram account shows only the upper half of the suit though in the caption he promises “more in days to follow.” He also notes that these photos are of a real, functional spacesuit and not simply a mock up.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BYIPmEFAIIn/?taken-by=elonmusk
At present, SpaceX is developing its Dragon 2 capsule, a crewed version of the Dragon spacecraft that the company uses to deliver cargo to the International Space Station (ISS). Development is underway with NASA after the two companies signed a contract in 2014 which calls for the development of a crewed spacecraft and transportation of astronauts to the ISS. NASA is also working with Boeing on a similar project and they revealed their spacesuits back in January.
Both companies had a target date of Fall 2017 to deliver astronauts to the space station but these have since been pushed back. If all goes to plan, SpaceX is on target to fly an uncrewed Dragon 2 capsule in March 2018 and the first transportation of astronauts will come in May of the same year.
