As engineers and scientists work hard to build technologies that astronauts could one day use to live and work on Mars, the future of spacesuits is looking stylish too. Or at least, fittingly, like something out of a science-fiction movie. NASA recently asked the public to vote on its next three generations of spacesuit prototypes, and it announced its first winner: the “technology” suit, a gray body with splashes of vibrant turquoise.
Just because NASA has stopped flying manned space missions doesn’t mean it wants to stop developing the suit that will be used to walk on the moon. Last month, NASA asked the public to vote on three versions of its next-generation spacesuit design, the Z-2, and now it has a winner: “technology,” a gray uniform with glowing patches of turquoise on its upper and lower torso. The new design, a subtle homage to spacesuits of yore, is a follow-up to 2012’s Z-1, a Buzz Lightyear-esque getup that won accolades, including being named one ofthe year’s best inventions by Time. It was also the first major overhaul of the spacewalking suit in about three decades, featuring a soft, flexible body for greater astronaut mobility.
