— After more than 25 years of U.S. astronauts wearing off-the-rack clothes while living in Earth orbit, a company working to launch the world's first commercial space station has adopted a more custom approach to its crew attire.

Vast has revealed its astronaut flight suit, a two-piece outfit designed to be worn both on and off the planet. The company also certified a custom-Swiss wristwatch for use aboard its upcoming Haven-1 space station.

"Over the last two decades on the International Space Station, astronauts have moved away from wearing flight suits every day," Drew Feustel, Vast's Lead Astronaut and former NASA mission specialist who spent 225 days in space, said in a statement. "The environment has become safer and more like how we work on Earth."

Feustel contributed to the design of the Vast Astronaut Flight Suit.

"We wanted to honor the tradition and history of aviation in human spaceflight and flight suits themselves," he said.

From used to use-driven

The origin of U.S. astronauts adopting a uniform flight suit dates to the original Mercury pilots and a now-iconic photo showing the seven spacemen standing in front of an F-106 jet while wearing a hodgepodge of different color and different style military garments.

"When we were selected as astronauts in 1959, little effort was made to create a standard flying suit for us. Our classic photo in front of the F-106 jet shows how we had scrounged around to get flight equipment from the various armed services," Mercury astronaut Gordon Cooper once said. "The dark blue NASA flight suit was mainly a result of the publication of that one photograph."

At first, NASA's blue flight suits were used only on the ground and on board aircraft. The Mercury and Gemini spacecraft were too cramped to change clothing, so on those early missions, the crew members remained in their pressure suits. Apollo was the first time that NASA astronauts could doff their bulky spacesuits for a shirt-sleeve-type environment. Their inflight wear included a jacket and trousers made out of a fire-resistant glass fiber.

The same was true for life on the first U.S. space station, Skylab. Instead of Beta cloth, though, the crews' outerwear was made out of polybenzemidazole (PBI), a less-itchy, fire-resistant golden-brown fabric.

The space shuttle initially saw the return to coveralls and two-piece flight suits that were worn throughout the entire mission. Crew members could also switch into matching powder blue shorts and shed their pleated jackets for just the polo shirts they wore underneath. This approach turned out to be too casual, though, and after Challenger and its seven-person crew was lost in 1986, NASA returned to the use of pressure suits for launch and landing.

The International Space Station, at least on the U.S. operating side, adopted the later shuttle-era style of polo or rugby shirts coupled with slacks. On the winged orbiters, the dark blue leg-wear was custom to the program and covered in Velcro. On the ISS, NASA sought a commercial solution: Cabela's hiker pants (to which Velcro was then added).

Vast stepped back from off-the-shelf solutions to meet its "human-centric approach to design." Over the next year, the suit will continue to undergo iterative testing and refinement, including material validation for safety, durability and compatibility with the station's environment.

Specifically suited

The Vast Astronaut Flight Suit was developed with the company's clients in mind, from its fit to its features.

Worn as either a one- or two-piece garment by zipping (or unzipping) the jacket from the pants, the flight suit will be tailored to each crew member while also offering increased comfort and mobility through the inclusion of back vents and shoulder gussets. The suit also has pockets and hook-and-loop fasteners (Velcro) so tools can be easily stowed and retrieved.

"In microgravity, you need your hands free and your tools always within reach," said former NASA astronaut Megan McArthur, who is also advising Vast. "You're constantly moving through small spaces and positioning your body in ways we don't experience on Earth."

Despite its clean white color and uniform design, the suit also provides for points of personal customization. Each crew's suits will sport their own mission patch and it has a place for each crew members' flight badge, "wings" that they will individually earn from Vast "by launching, living on orbit and performing mission operations in space," according to the company.

Separate from the flight suit but along the same lines, each Vast crew member will also wear the Pilot's Venturer Vertical Drive, a timepiece designed by the Swiss luxury watchmaker IWC Schaffhausen and tested in partnership with Vast. IWC engineered the watch to meet the challenges presented during human spaceflight, including replacing the crown with a more glove-friendly rotating bezel. Vast ensured the watch could withstand vibrations and pressure changes, as well as be compatible with the Haven-1 on board environment.

(IWC Schaffhausen is now offering the Pilot's Venturer Vertical Drive for sale, regardless if you are launching to space, with our without Vast, or not at all, for $28,200.)

"It's something astronauts can actually use," said Feustel. "This is the flight suit for the commercial, crewed spaceflight era, and it's really just the beginning."