When astronauts board the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft next year, they would not be wearing the traditional bulky orange spacesuit. Instead, they will be wearing a new blue color spacesuit that was unveiled by Boeing on Thursday.
Boeing designed the new blue spacesuit exclusively for the Starliner spacecraft capsule. The spacecraft is being constructed to transport astronauts and space crew members to the International Space Station.
The new blue spacesuit is that it is 40 percent lighter than the traditional orange one, which is likely to offer unprecedented convenience to astronauts. Not to mention that its innovative layers will keep them cooler as well.
The new spacesuit also comes with many more advanced features like the touch-screen-sensitive gloves, more-flexible material, and soft helmets.
"It is a lot lighter, more form-fitting, and it's simpler, which is always a good thing," NASA astronaut Eric Boe said in a statement.
The Boeing Blue suit will also keep astronauts safe in the case of any emergency during the space tour. It can act as an emergency backup to the spacecraft's life-support systems, according to Richard Watson, subsystem manager for spacesuits at NASA's Commercial Crew Program.
Additionally, to protect the astronauts during launch and while returning to earth, the suit has an inbuilt communications headset that will keep them connected to ground and space crew members. This communications headset is inserted inside a helmet.
The CST-100 Starliner spacecraft is being constructed by Boeing Company in collaboration with Bigelow Aerospace. This spacecraft will end the dependence of American astronauts on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft, which NASA is currently using to transport its astronauts to the ISS.
NASA reportedly has to pay a whopping $70 million per seat to the Russian space agency to use its spacecraft. In the past, NASA fulfilled this purpose through space shuttles, which officially got retired in July 2011.