Your Everyday Astronaut Suit
This is for you, future space tourists
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While private companies are still working on ways to get customers beyond Earth’s atmosphere, the fashion-side of space tourism is already off the ground.
BetaBrand recently unveiled its new Space Jacket that will ship in late May—if the project gets funded, which it likely will. As of Friday afternoon, the company had raised 95 percent of the money needed to make the astronaut suit a reality.
According to the website, the Space Jacket is made from a durable, breathable DuPont Tyvek shell and silvered nylon taffeta lining inspired by the foil used on spacecraft. It has an athletic fit with realistic Velcro patches.
Steven B. Wheeler, who formerly designed men’s technical outerwear for The North Face, initially created the Space Jacket in his free time as a one-off prototype for himself. But his contacts in private space science labs were so excited about it, BetaBrand decided to make the apparel public.
“I’ve been in love with space exploration for as long as I can remember, and I loved the challenge of working with new materials in interesting ways,” says Wheeler. “I pulled together some high-tech components and drew upon my experience to design and sew the prototype myself. I chose Tyvek, Primaloft, and 15d nylon taffeta for their lightweight and performance qualities, and because of how strikingly similar they looked to various components used in the space program.”
Maybe a professional astronaut, or an intrepid tourist, will one day take it into space.
$236 (20 percent off), betabrand.com
