The moon has always been seen as an unattainable object, a mythical orb floating way above the Earth. As a child, astronaut is high up on the list of potential jobs. But to date, there have only ever been twelve people who have set foot on the moon and they were all part of the Apollo landings from 1968 to 1972.

Elon Musk set out to “revolutionise space technology” when he founded the private aerospace exploration company SpaceX in 2002. Its ultimate goal is to enable people to “live on other planets”.

And now his efforts are creeping ever closer to reality with the release of the first images of the SpaceX space suit. The photo was posted on Musk’s Instagram account, where he informed his 2.4 million followers that the suit does actually work, and was incredibly difficult to create, to enable a fine balance between aesthetics and function. SpaceX made the decision to design their own suits as it is said to be more cost effective and gives the company more control over any changes that may need to be made.

The post seems to be a tease for more information that is set to follow. The suit does not appear to have been designed to be worn for spacewalks. Rather they seem to be pressure suits that will be worn by astronauts for flights in the SpaceX Dragon Capsule, in case the cabin depressurises during transit.

The Dragon spacecraft is currently a cargo vessel that made history when it became the first non-governmental craft to deliver cargo to and from the International Space Station. The Dragon’s principle purpose however, is to carry astronauts into space.  

SpaceX is set to launch its first crewed mission with NASA in June 2018, as well as sending two tourists on a flight around the moon next year. It seems as though Musk’s moonshot programme is slowly but surely becoming a reality.

Visit SpaceX’s website to find out more.