Skip to main content

Here are the new spacesuits astronauts will wear for tonight’s Starliner launch

A graphic displaying Boeing’s spacesuit for Starliner astronauts.
A graphic displaying Boeing’s spacesuit for Starliner astronauts. NASA/Boeing

Two NASA astronauts are making final preparations directly ahead of the first crewed launch of the new Boeing Starliner capsule, which will launch from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida later tonight, Monday May 6. Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will be aboard for liftoff at 10:34 p.m. ET (here’s how to watch), when an Alliance Atlas V rocket launchesthe Starliner for its test flight to the International Space Station (ISS).

The weather looks food for the launch tonight, with 95% chance of favorable conditions. And Wilmore and Williams have been suiting up in the new Starliner suits specially designed for this mission.

Recommended Videos

The blue suits, different from the white suits worn on SpaceX Dragon missions, have been designed to be lighter and more flexible than previous spacesuits, according to NASA, with zippers at the joints to allow for motion and an attached helmet and visor. They are also lighter than previous spacesuits so less cumbersome to move in.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

The integrated visor is a favorite new feature of the suit, Starliner spacesuit lead Tori Wills Pedrotty said when showing the suit to media last month. The broad dome means a very wide field of view, with the ability for astronauts to comfortably turn their heads to get a better view around them. But the biggest selling point of the suit is its weight, which is just around 20 pounds including shoes and accessories. Compared to the older spacesuits worn by Space Shuttle astronauts, the new suits are almost 10 pounds lighter.

NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams perform checks of their Boeing spacesuits in the crew suit-up room inside the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, May 6, 2024.
NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams perform checks of their Boeing spacesuits in the crew suit-up room inside the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, May 6, 2024. NASA

Williams has expressed her approval of the new look, saying in an earlier press conference: “I really like these suits. They’re really nice, slick, comfortable suits — easy to get in and easy to get out of, allow a lot of mobility,” she said. She also described how the helmet flips over from behind and then closes with a zipper, similar to pressure zippers used in previous spacesuits, but unusual in that the helmet and suit are one piece.

“I think they probably put that helmet the way they did because I keep having this reoccurring dream that it’s launch time and I can’t find my helmet,” Wilmore joked.

Williams and Wilmore have now suited up in the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at Kennedy Space Center and have headed out to the pad, ready to enter the capsule. But before they left, they had one more important task to perform: the ritual card game played before any astronaut launch from Kennedy. “The point of the game is that the commander must use up all his or her bad luck before the launch, so the crew can only leave for the pad when the commander loses,” NASA explains.

Georgina Torbet
Georgina has been the space writer at Digital Trends space writer for six years, covering human space exploration, planetary…
ISS astronauts enjoy front row seats for comet’s journey toward the sun
Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS as seen from the space station.

Two NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) have been tracking the movement of a comet heading toward the sun and using the opportunity to capture some remarkable photos and footage.

ISS inhabitants Matthew Dominick and Don Pettit -- both already renowned for their impressive space-based photographic work -- have been monitoring comet C2023-A3 (also known as Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) for the past week or so and sharing their efforts on social media.

Read more
How to watch SpaceX’s Crew-9 launch to the ISS on Saturday
Crew-7's Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft on the launchpad.

[UPDATE: SpaceX has called off Thursday's launch attempt due to an approaching storm. It's now targeting 1:17 p.m. ET on Saturday, September 28.]

SpaceX and NASA are gearing up for the Crew-9 launch that will carry an American astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.

Read more
Crew Dragon is about to fly with empty seats for the first time. Here’s why
A Falcon 9 rocket launches from California.

NASA and SpaceX are making final preparations for the Crew-9 astronaut flight to the International Space Station (ISS), which is set to launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday, September 26.

But this will be the first of SpaceX’s 13 crewed flights to the ISS since the first one in 2020 where there will be two empty seats on the Crew Dragon spacecraft. And there’s a very good reason for that. Let us explain.

Read more