Building the Spacesuit of the Future

For astronauts flying in space, spacesuits are a must-have accessory. 

But spacesuit technology has come a long way since the dawn of human spaceflight. Tonight, MIT professor Dava Newman will discuss her BioSuit spacesuit design and you can watch it live online.Newman will discuss her BioSuit spacesuit concept at 7:30 p.m. EDT (2330 GMT) during a live webcast hosted by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) in Cambridge, Mass.

"The BioSuit applies pressure to the entire body through a tight-fitting material rather than using a stiff, gas-filled envelope that restricts an astronaut's movement, like current spacesuits," CfA officials wrote in webcast description. "Combining fashion and functionality, the BioSuit provides astronauts new flexibility and range of motion. This is the end of the bulky moon look!" Newman is the director of MIT's Technology and Policy Program, and serves as a professor of aeronautics and astronautics and engineering systems.Newman's Biosuit discussion tonight is part of the monthly Observatory Nights program at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. The lecture series was founded in 1930 by then CfA-director Harlow Shapley to share the latest discoveries by astronomers with the public, according to an event description.