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After years of the same old white extravehicular mobility outfits, NASA has gotten snazzy with the Tron-inspired Z-2 spacesuit. The space agency just released photos of the Z-2 prototype last week and the photos show black and gray suits with sleeker lines that look like outfits astronauts will actually be able to move around in.
In fact, the Z-2 was designed to offer a lot more mobility than earlier styles of spacesuits (the ones that made the astronauts look and move like the Marshmallow Man from "Ghostbusters") because the astronauts that wear these suits will be using them to explore a foreign planet and won't be worn aboard the spacecraft or to conduct spacewalks or anything like that.
The suit is designed for maximum astronaut productivity on a planetary surface – exploring, collecting samples, and maneuvering in and out of habitats and rovers, according to a NASA release.
The suit comes with an adjustable waist and adjustable shoulders so it can fit any astronaut. It's lightweight but the torso is still really tough and the whole thing is designed to hold up to whatever conditions Mars can dish up. But the suit gets even more fancy than that: Parts of the Z-2 will be created using 3D scans of astronauts bodies to make sure that the suit will fit each wearer perfectly.