The scramble to be the first to put ordinary tourists in space is on. While private space pioneers paid $20m (£10m) for the privilege of spending a week at the International Space Station, those who have a mere $200,000 to spare can set their sights on an hour or so in suborbital space as soon as next year. But what to wear for the occasion when you walk up, or down, the gantry and have the eyes - and cameras - of the world upon you?
Orbital Outfitters (OO) has the answer: the IS3C, the first commercially available suborbital space suit. The suit was designed by Chris Gilman, a Hollywood special effects guru who has designed spacesuits for movies such as Space Cowboys and Deep Impact. Gilman is backed by a team of aeronautical engineers and space-medicine experts. Orbital Outfitters is one of a slew of small companies in the "New Space" movement, often staffed by ex-Nasa scientists determined to see many people in space in the next decade. The first suits go out to customers soon and will be worn by test pilots flying trials of the first rocket-powered vehicles for private space tourism.
Style and substance
This is not a suit you can take a spacewalk in, but is designed to save the wearer in the event of an emergency decompression in the spacecraft cabin. Its weight - a mere 20kg - is under half that of the equivalent Nasa suit. OO is justifiably proud of its innovative use of modern composite materials. "Our entire helmet weighs less than the neck ring of the Nasa suit," says Gilman. "Obviously safety is paramount, but people paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to take a trip to space also want to look cool in the photographs."
The suit has socks instead of standard boots, so you can customise your choice of footwear from Armani to Doc Martins. The suit also has an audio system that integrates with the crew and other passengers while cancelling out cabin noise.
During your space flight, the suit will be plugged in via an umbilical cord into the vehicle's life-support system, with additional backup oxygen in the suit itself to last up to 15 minutes in an emergency.
The suit is very customisable and is likely to include point-of-view cameras mounted on the helmet so wearers can record the experience. The suit is made up of three layers: one inner, breathable layer to wick sweat away from the body, then a restraining layer to help protect the body from G forces - acceleration expressed as multiples of earth's gravity. The average space traveller will have to endure between four and seven Gs, so will feel like they weigh many times their Earth weight - this is enough to kill the unprotected if it lasts for more than a minute or two.
The outer, stitched layer has stretch panels under the arms for increased manoeuvrability, is more body-fitting than Nasa designs and is available in any colour.
But while looking cool is not everything, keeping cool when cabin temperatures could reach over 60C is essential. The coolant design is secret, but will be similar to those used by Formula 1 drivers in hot climates, where very fine capillary tubes filled with chilled gels run around the torso. Wearers of heavy costumes in Hollywood films, like the Wookie in Star Wars, have also used cooling suits, and the US military is testing similar suits which plug into the air-conditioning units of tanks and Humvees in Iraq to keep their crews cool under the desert sun.
Biometric tracking
Real-time biometrics such as blood pressure will be monitored by sensors built into the suit, and displayed for the crew to see. There will also be a head-up display so you can check how well you're coping. However, the suit will not be plumbed to accommodate other bodily functions - these flights will last less than an hour.
The suit even features an integrated parachute, although bailing out at 500,000 feet - the peak of the first suborbital flights - isn't to be recommended: the highest ever freefall was a jump carried out by pilot Captain Joseph Kittinger from 84,700 feet in 1960 from a balloon. His hand endured temperatures of -70C, when his experimental suit ripped and he reached 714mph during freefall. His record still stands.
· A history of spacewear
Canadian Wilbur Franks produced the first gravity suit in 1941, to prevent pilots blacking out from high acceleration and G-forces. It was designed to stop blood flowing away from the brain by applying pressure to the torso and lower limbs.
The first Nasa prototype for space use was developed in 1959, and was a modified version of early US Navy high-altitude jet flight suits. The made-to-measure neoprene Mercury suit was worn unpressurised because of the limited mobility at the elbows and knees, only being pressurised in an emergency. Being inside the suit was described by contemporary astronauts as like adapting to life inside a pneumatic tyre.
Greater mobility and comfort went into the design for the next-generation Gemini suits, which had two layers: a gas tight man-shaped bladder, and a net layer woven from Teflon and Dacron. As the net layer was slightly smaller, the suit was more flexible when under pressure.
The present Advanced Crew Escape Suit, or ACES, is a direct descendant of these suits, first worn in the 1970s. A modified version with detachable gloves, and incorporating a cooling and ventilation system, is still used by all Space Shuttle crews.
