Space. The final frontier. It is every child’s dream to gaze up at the stars and picture that day in the future when they can soar among them as an elite astronaut. Of course, reality soon sets in and those same children downgrade those dreams to say, um, elite accountant. Some children actually grow up and become astronauts, though. To those children, we salute you. We also envy you. Let’s do something constructive with that envy shall we? Let’s take a look at the newest in spacesuit technology.
NASA, who you may remember from the moon landing and other suitably sci-fi moments in history, have given their spacesuit design a complete overhaul. The general design has remained somewhat static for decades, receiving only minor changes every once in a while like a Madden game. This new work-up changes just about everything, though.
First of all, the Z-1 as it is called, has a new point of entry. The astronauts enter through that big port in the back. They quite literally climb on in as if through a window. There’s also the matter of materials used. A layer of urethane-coated nylon retains air, and a polyester layer allows the suit to hold its shape. Who knew polyester had other uses than keeping dudes in the 1970s flexible at the local disco parlor?
The greatest change the Z-1 offers is mobility based. Former designs were real style crampers but this new model allows for almost yoga-like flexibility. Astronauts will be able to collect soil samples and fight off alien baddies like never before. This is one small stretch for man, one large and massively challenging lumbar exercise for mankind.
This is the only image NASA has released but we’ll keep you updated as soon as the space agency gets a bit more loose lipped. Watch the video below for a better look.
