— When Michael Lopez-Alegria commanded the primary privately-funded crewed mission to go to the Worldwide Area Station, he traded his NASA “blues” for a “Deep Area” and “Mesosphere” flight swimsuit.
Two years later, the general public can get an up-close have a look at these new hues for human spaceflight whereas touring NASA’s Kennedy Area Heart Customer Complicated in Florida. Lopez-Alegria’s Axiom Area Ax-1 swimsuit went on show on Thursday (Nov. 21) alongside the retired house shuttle Atlantis.
“Satirically, that’s the solely orbiter I didn’t fly on,” stated Lopez-Alegria in an interview with collectSPACE. “So I’ve by no means been in Atlantis in house, however I have been in it on the bottom fairly a bit after I was an astronaut assist individual, trying out its change configuration and issues like that earlier than [other crews’] launched.”
The Ax-1 mission, which was organized and operated by the Houston-based house companies firm Axiom Area, marked the primary time that NASA allowed a privately-selected crew to reside and work aboard the house station. Lopez-Alegria launched on the 17-day flight on April 8, 2022 with U.S. entrepreneur and non-profit activist investor Larry Connor; Canadian investor and philanthropist Mark Pathy; and influence investor and philanthropist Eytan Stibbe of Israel.
Lopez-Alegria, who as a NASA astronaut from 1992 to 2012, logged greater than 257 days on his first 4 missions. He’s the primary individual to command each civil and business orbital spaceflights, in addition to the first NASA veteran to revisit the house station as a non-public particular person.
The Ax-1 mission and his flight swimsuit “represents the subsequent chapter” after the house shuttle, he stated.
“Business human spaceflight was not even on anyone’s radar again within the heyday of the shuttle. And now it is a factor, and the shuttles usually are not,” stated Lopez-Alegria. “So its a little bit of one other period in historical past. I am proud to be in there with Atlantis.”
As Ax-1 commander and Axiom Area’s chief astronaut, Lopez-Alegria gave his enter into the design of the flight fits, however many of the credit score goes to Italian clothes shop Loro Piana. Working with a listing of fabric necessities, together with that the swimsuit be flame and excessive temperature resistant, Loro Piana got here up with a number of choices that featured Axiom Area’s company shade palette, together with “Deep Area” black and “Mesosphere” blue.
Later variations of the uniform, such because the one worn by Lopez-Alegria and three his crewmates on his second Axiom Area mission, Ax-3, in February of this yr, eliminated the “Mesosphere” spotlight from the swimsuit’s legs however added a Toposphere” orange stripe alongside each shoulders.
“I believe these look much more fashionable the NASA flight fits. The company’s fits usually are not tailor-made, so they give the impression of being form of dishevelled on most individuals. These are a a lot nicer look,” Lopez-Alegria informed collectSPACE.
Lopez-Alegria’s Ax-1 flight swimsuit is the second of the corporate’s astronaut uniforms to go on public show. In January, Axiom Area’s director of human spaceflight Peggy Whitson loaned her Ax-2 flight swimsuit to Area Heart Houston. Whitson has been supplied one other swimsuit to put on when she leads the Ax-4 crew subsequent yr.
Lopez-Alegria’s flight swimsuit might be on show on the Kennedy Area Heart Customer Complicated all through 2025. The exhibit is a part of the advanced’s “Uncover One thing Actual” marketing campaign, which highlights the previous, current and way forward for house exploration and interplanetary journey.
“I used to be very proud to placed on the Axiom Area swimsuit, what it’s we’re doing right here on the firm and in business human spaceflight on the whole,” stated Lopez-Alegria.
