The one good piece of news happening these days is the rocket launch on Sunday. It went off without a hitch and is the first time we’ve sent astronauts into space in 9 years. It was a pretty amazing.

I also have to say the space suits were a nice upgrade from the old ones. I mean even the suits in Armageddon were better than what NASA has been wearing. Here are the 1962 suits and 2011 suits (the last time they went up):

And here are today’s

The spacesuits Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will wear for today’s Crew Dragon launch look different from the ones you’re used to. We explore the sleek SpaceX launch and entry suits in a new blog: https://t.co/tjSaGyA6Is #LaunchAmerica pic.twitter.com/IcbGhG2S62

— National Air and Space Museum (@airandspace) May 27, 2020

The prototype for the suits was created by Jose Fernandez, a costume designer who worked on “Batman v Superman,” “The Fantastic Four,” “The Avengers,” and “X-Men II.” He created a helmet in two weeks as a test, got the job, and then worked directly with Elon Musk for six months to design the suit. The finished prototype was later reverse engineered to meet space travel requirements – a process that took over 3 years. The tuxedo associations are not an accident as Musk believes everyone always looks better in a tux.

Some details about them:

• They’re designed to be a single piece, with specialized parts.
• The helmet is custom manufactured using 3D printing technology and includes integrated valves, mechanisms for visor retraction and locking, and microphones within the helmet’s structure.
• The suits have touchscreen-compatible gloves that enable the astronauts to pilot the Crew Dragon, whose control panel is touchscreen-only.
• The suits had been in space before — but not on people. They had gone up once on the dummy at the wheel of the Tesla that SpaceX launched into space in 2018, and then on the dummy called Ripley that flew during in a test flight last year.

As someone who wore a Star Trek uniform for a week straight in college as a prank, I definitely appreciate the pros and cons of futuristic attire and being “space ready.” I have to say that I like the direction we’re going and could actually see these outfits being worn at halloween and others with pride and without irony. That’s a good step for the US. Lord knows we need a win these days.

Other Stuff

Related to the Last Dance documentary. Isn’t Jerry Krauss, the GM from the Bulls, the perfect equivalent for show-runner David Benioff for Game of Thrones? Jerry Krauss orchestrated and built the personnel for a dominant Bulls team for six seasons but then botched the landing, pushing Michael Jordan out and destroying the Bulls for years. The Game of Thrones show-runners did the same they constructed the perfect cast and set up an incredible shows for six amazing seasons but then jammed all the loose ends into one final season and then finished it all the while the fans were screaming for 20 more seasons. (from this podcast)

Isn’t the mayor in the movie Jaws the perfect example of what’s happening today? He forced everyone back on the beaches and because he wanted to re-open the city and preserve against economic harm. Seems prophetic.