The NASA astronauts who fly aboard Boeing's new spaceship will wear sleek, blue suits that are lighter, simpler and more comfortable than the bulky orange gear of the space shuttle era, company representatives said.
Unveiled today (Jan. 25), the new "Boeing Blue" spacesuits for the Starliner capsule weigh about 20 lbs. (9 kilograms) each with all of their accessories, compared to 30 lbs. (13.6 kg) for the old space shuttle suits, NASA officials said.
Other advances include touch-screen-sensitive gloves, more-flexible material and soft helmets that are incorporated into the suit (rather than the hard, detachable helmets of the shuttle era).
"It is a lot lighter, more formfitting, and it's simpler, which is always a good thing," NASA astronaut Eric Boe said in a statement. "Complicated systems have more ways they can break, so simple is better on something like this."
Source: http://www.space.com/35456-boeing-unveils-starliner-spacesuits-photos.html
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday January 28 2017, @06:55AM
Do you really work at Boston Dynamics? Alphabet Inc. is going to find you and terminate you! With robots!
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 28 2017, @07:45AM
Wouldn't that be frightening...
This summer... one man... a robot uprising... he, for one, does not welcome our new robot overlords... the last hope for mankind... his name is... Ethanol-Fueled.
*shudders*
(Score: 2, Informative) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday January 28 2017, @09:35AM
They already tried. There was a lawsuit and a settlement. I lost in the short-term but won a steady position.