Astronaut style, by decade…

With commercial spaceflight around the corner, some may be given to wonder:  What will private and research astronauts look like?

There are only a couple of examples so far, and people tend to assume that astronauts have always appeared the same – pioneers in blue flightsuits with a determined, gritted jaw.  However, such is not the case.  As the decades have rolled by, humanity’s vanguard has brandished a rainbow of color schemes, and its demographic has changed dramatically.

Take a look.  Perhaps the appearance of our future off-world venturers will echo those of the past.

1960s:

Appearance of NASA astronauts ca. 1960s. (Credit: NASA)

1970s:

Appearance of NASA astronauts and USSR cosmonauts ca. 1970s. (Credit: NASA)

1980s:

Appearance of NASA astronaut, ca. 1980s. (Credit: NASA)

1990:

Appearance of NASA astronaut ca. 1990. (Credit: NASA)

1997:

Appearance of NASA astronaut ca. 1997. (Credit: NASA)

2004:

Appearance of the world's first commerical astronauts, ca. 2004. (Credit: Scaled Composites)

2005:

Appearance of Chinese taikonauts, ca. 2005. (Credit: CNSA)

2009:

Appearance of NASA and ESA astronauts and Russian cosmonauts, ca. 2009. (Credit: NASA)

Book Alert: Spacesuits (from Smithsonian)

A note on a a recently released book – entitled Spacesuits – by Amanda Young with photos by Mark Avino.  Released by the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, the book includes never-before-seen images, plain language history, and gripping tales of the clothing that stood between our first off-world explorers and certain death.  A must-have for the coffee table repertoire.  Check it out here.

Spacesuits, a new book from Smithsonian. Credit: powerHouse Books