UKH

Just seen a BBC article titled "Astronauts arrive at Kennedy for historic launch" and there is a photo of them in the capsule practising and the space suits they are wearing look very modern and swish and like something out of sci-fi.

I've tried to find out about them but can't find any mention of them anywhere, on wikipedia and the NASA page on space suits it just describes the old looking ones that look like museum pieces now.

Anyone know anything about them?

Looking closer at the photo I wonder if they aren't suitable for use outside in space perhaps, as they really look lightweight compared to the normal ones we've seen for decades.

They’re SpaceX suits - Googling that will find you a lot.  They’re emergency suits for loss of pressure during the rocket and capsule rides rather than for wearing when working in vacuum/space itself.

Oh, they are about two remodellings away from Imperial stormtroopers. They don't look like EVA suits but then again you are only dealing with radiation, vacuum and cold, none of which need much structure to keep them out.

ETA - Ah, SpaceX, that explains the imperial stormtrooper look.

Ha it was literally designed by someone who designs movie space suit costumes! 

It looks like a thick long sleeve t-shirt not sure how safe I'd feel in it

Edit: it's got touch screen compatible gloves though and I think that's more important! 

You don't need much to keep the vacuum out - skin is air tight so as long as you provide mechanical compression it's fine in the vacuum of space.  There are various suits designed around this - e.g. [1]- the problem is that the various openings on the face aren't so air tight [2] so a conventional helmet is needed there.  As I understand it one of the challenges is the interface between the two.  

[1] https://www.space.com/27210-biosuit-skintight-spacesuit-concept-images.html

[2] - graphic content alert -  youtube.com/watch?v=Z5TqD5xf0ic&

Seeing as the spacecraft is controlled by giant touchscreens...  Spam in a can!  

It's like a diving suit in that respect, if the neck was compressible you could just have something fitting tightly around it and it would make suit design very much easier. Maybe a future human upgrade would be a carbon fibre ring around the neck under the skin.

are touchscreens so tactile as discrete controls in high-g high vibration situations?  be unfortunate if they aren't unless everything is automatic until they screens are used in a more genteel environment