Jeff Bezos ’suit is very appropriate and mostly for show

In what case may be the most expensive midlife crisis in history, the founder of Amazon Jeff Bezos is heading into space this week. Instead of using his memorable fortune to fix or at least reduce the complex crises on Earth, the 57-year-old oligarch decided to give up his beautiful blue suit and throw himself into the atmosphere to create more problems there. bring.

“It’s good to be in flight attire,” Bezos said in a promotional video posted on Instagram. I wanted to make my $ 200 billion spending feel even better ending famine in their homeland, but sure. Bezos’ love tight clothing can only agree with him evasion of federal taxes; New York Times called him a “style icon.” and apparently not joking: “Sir. Bezos has gone from Smurf wearing a tight-fitting shirt, a polo shirt, a black shirt and digi-stud shades, ”wrote Vanessa Friedman in 2018.

So her Blue Origin team chose a dress that matched the sensibilities of her estranged father: it’s a bit of a stretch. Top Gun reduced in shape, at the waist and at an angle. On the back of the feather shirt, there is the logo of his space company because … branding. On the front chest is a patch of the rocket ship’s logo. It seems like a Halloween costume for the rich.

One scientist, who did not want to be named, told me that his appearance was similar to “pajamas,” not a real claim by NASA standards.

Charging for a walk as well as wearing a suit, Jeff Mike’s brother, a former firefighter, apparently loves the hero’s jeans. Wally Funk, an 83-year-old aircraft pioneer who trained with NASA in the 1960s. And then Oliver Daemon, a Dutch teenager who is his father Paid $ 28 million for a ticket after failing to support the original applicant due to a “schedule discrepancy”. (Wouldn’t you hate it when your assistant wrote a book about your first flight again?)

A spokesman for Blue Origin declined to comment on the suit’s design.

Bezos, of course, isn’t the only billionaire to travel into space because he feels good about his curse. Richard Branson just last month returned from orbit on the edge of space with a Virgin Galactic rocket. His team uniform, made by Under Armor, was also an ocean blue shirt. This one was the same as the one Bezos wore on Tuesday, but it wasn’t nearly as thin. Think of it as the idea of ​​a rich man about Snuggie: loose and room-y and a little Hollywood. (Under Armor did not comment with press time.)

Talk about movies: a costume designer named Jose Fernandez wearing a Duff Punk hat as well as the costumes seen in it Planet of the Apes, The Avengers, and Batman and Superman dreamed of a beautiful futuristic and very skinny Elon Musk and NASA SpaceX flight. (Fernandez also declined to comment to The Daily Beast.)

Brad Holshukh is the coordinator of the Closed Technology Lab and an associate professor at the University of Minnesota. She explained the different definitions of “space suit” via email.

“When people think of NASA’s‘ space suits, ’there are actually two costumes that come to mind,” Holshukh said. “The first Mobile Extraction Unit (EMU) is an outstanding white space suit that you can see astronauts wearing while outside the car / seat in the hallways. It’s a completely independent costume that can be used (and intended) for outdoor activities. ”

The second is the Advanced Cscape Escape (ACES) suit, a bright orange suit that astronauts wear before and during their flight and return. “It’s one emergency a suit that is worn only to protect the astronaut in the event of a loss of pressure on the vehicle during flight, and it will only be pressurized in the event of such an emergency, and its sole purpose is to keep the crew alive, Holshukh said. “It’s not designed for space travel (or is designed for it) and never (usually) wears out of transport.”

ACES is a popular orange, and this, according to Holshukh, is a deliberate choice. “This is to ensure that the crew is provided with the maximum if they are rescued or recovered from the waterway,” he said. “Oranges are more different with blue water.”

Because passengers on commercial routes have no plans to leave the vehicle – unless there is an emergency – the billionaires don’t actually wear space suits. “The Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin flight suits aren’t even a pressure suit,” Holshukh said. a stressful task or life support. “

Basically: “SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic costumes chose the color design of their costumes primarily for aesthetic reasons, which is probably good because they didn’t plan an ocean landing and instead want to offer a better customer experience that some of them include futuristic costumes for the participants, Holshukh said.

In fact, Bezos’s performances on Monday morning confirmed that his crew was not wearing space suits, but also flight suits. “With salon pressure, it’s redundant; we don’t have to use spacesuits, and we will. ” Bezos told NBC News.

“We knew and loved NASA’s space suit design,” Holshukh said. “The big white dress with air has been immortalized in pop culture, but it’s not intentionally designed in a‘ fashionable ’way. All aspects of costume design are driven by functional needs – colors for visibility and touch, reflecting heat or to identify and distinguish crew members. used in videos. “

On the other hand, commercial space flight companies “have very high sales in the first place experiments, ”Holshukh explained. “Costumes are part of the experience, and the way to play the experience is to offer the opportunity to wear futuristic space suits while traveling in space.”

Will Green is a PhD student at the University of North Dakota’s Human Flight Laboratory who will be developing a space suit at NASA this fall as part of a team. He also noted the fundamental difference between the business space suits compared to the government’s capabilities.

“When I say this, I’m not trying to be too hyperbolic, but the Virgin Galactic space suit isn’t what I usually call it a space suit,” he said. “With Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin, those costumes are just for looks, and if they hit the wall, they have an extra bag. But there’s no protection outside of it.”

Green keeps pace with Hollywood space costumes and allows science fiction to explore his wildest dreams for the future of NASA costumes. She saw the orange and white suits at Matt Damon in 2015 Martian.

“[The costumes] are representations of futuristic costume suits that have a mechanical anti-pressure space suit, Green said. “It’s a sleeping suit that instead of wearing a press suit, you put a suit on you to keep you steady from expanding into the empty space.”

Green added: “When you look at scientific myths, it allows engineers to see the possibilities of technology in a practical context. We will definitely pay attention to it. ”

“My interest in human spaceflight can be traced back to watching Star Trek in childhood, ”Holshukh said. “So I think there is a certain amount of inspiration from the design of space technology, including space costumes, from Hollywood and other fantastic sources, and we see the result in the aesthetic design of costumes developed by space commercial companies. .There is an excitement with a space exploration adventure – and we see that space commercial companies are trying to capture this essence in their costume designs.