Elon Musk unveils futuristic SpaceX spacesuit

SpaceX founder Elon Musk has revealed the futuristic spacesuits his firm has designed for astronauts sent by Nasa "to and from the International Space Station", The Verge reports.

Musk posted the image of the spacesuits on his Instagram account, saying that the suit pictured is "not a mockup" and that it has "already [been] tested to double vacuum pressure".

He adds that designing the suit was "incredibly hard", as his company struggled to balance "aesthetics and function."

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The South African billionaire says fans can expect more images of the spacesuit in the coming days.

The spacesuit appears to have come straight out of a science fiction movie, says The Verge, although its black and white colour scheme is a "homage to the old school suits NASA astronauts wore to the moon."

"It looks svelte and tight", says TechCrunch, and is similar to "Boeing's new spacesuit" designed for commercial space travel.

ArsTechnica says the suit is not specifically a spacesuit, but is instead a flight suit designed to be worn "during the ride to space and again on the ride back down to Earth."

Both SpaceX and Boeing remain in a "competition to design, develop, and fly spacecraft capable of transporting astronauts to the International Space Station", the website says.

The two aerospace firms are on course to trial their respective spacesuits on test flights. According to ArsTechnica these are due to kick off next year.