SpaceX founder Elon Musk, posted something rather interesting to Instagram recently: the first official look at the new space suit that the company designed for use in its Dragon Capsule.

Musk also noted that the image is not a “mock up” and that the suit actually works, although the picture was not taken in space to the best of our knowledge. Moving on, Musk also points out that the design and manufacture process proved quite difficult. “Was incredibly hard to balance esthetics and function,” he posted.

First picture of SpaceX spacesuit. More in days to follow. Worth noting that this actually works (not a mockup). Already tested to double vacuum pressure. Was incredibly hard to balance esthetics and function. Easy to do either separately.

A post shared by Elon Musk (@elonmusk) on

Aug 23, 2017 at 12:59am PDT

These suits, although quite fetching, will not be the ones used by astronauts for doing spacewalks or repair work on the outside of a capsule or shuttle. Instead, they are pressurised and designed to safely house astronauts during the de-pressurising stage within the capsule.

The suits will be in action and worn by NASA astronauts when their commercial crew programme begins launching people to and from the International Space Station.