Active Fashion In Spaaaaaaaace

22 December, 2020 Heloise Garrity

Since humankind first looked up at the stars and wondered what on earth it all means and where do we fit into all, we seem to have had a fascination with space. This has, of course, been fuelled by a steady supply of science fiction over the years, but reality is also starting to catch up with the world’s portrayal on screen. Elon Musk is, of course, going nuts with satellites and our own RocketLab has helped to etch out a multi-billion-dollar space industry. All of this activity is helping to advance innovation at an exponential rate, which will enable us to better understand our universe. Almost as importantly, it will help enable us to send rich people into space.

Ever the one to spot a commercial opportunity, Virgin is leading the charge of space tourism with their Virgin Galactic project, which is developing crafts designed to take six passengers on a sub-orbital flight into space to view the Earth and experience several minutes of weightlessness at $250,000 per seat.

This is, of course, just the beginning and Virgin Galactic’s mission is to open up space for everybody to enable more of us to boldly go… Speaking of Star Trek, if we are to learn anything from this iconic show, it is the need to have kick-ass space uniforms. This hasn’t been lost on the clever people at Virgin Galactic who have turned to iconic active brand, Under Armour to design their spacesuits.

The resulting suits are made of tough flight-grade knitted fabrics with each garment weighing just over one kilogram. The colour of choice is royal-blue with black panels under the arms, above the feet and running along both sides of the body. Cushioning on the shoulders offers comfort as pilots are held into position by straps when seated in zero gravity. This also serves to support the pilots during boost, when the forces press them back into their seats.

“A common colour palette accentuates the fact that pilots and customers are all part of one crew. But the addition of black within the pilot spacesuits, sets the pilots a little apart and is a reminder that the destination of each flight is the black sky of space,” Virgin Galactic said.

“A pilot’s flight suit has been refined over the decades to embody a certain undeniable look and function, but they also have to perform beyond expectations,” said Randall Harward from Under Armour. “Our goal was to build a suit that leaves a pilot – like any athlete – feeling confident and with zero distractions during a critical moment of performance. It’s been a fascinating journey.”

We are hoping that this is just the beginning of the journey. In the meantime, we aren’t sure if it is possible to buy the uniform without the $250,000 ticket.