Jose Fernandez was the Hollywood costume designer who created the spacesuits worn by astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken, who blasted off to space on Saturday from Cape Canaveral, onboard Elon Musk’s SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
The astronauts were scheduled to dock their SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, named Dragon Endeavour, with the International Space Station (ISS) in low Earth orbit at 10:29 a.m. ET on Sunday, after launching on Saturday from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39A.
The Washington Post reported that the capsule eventually docked with the ISS at 10:16 a.m. ET, a few minutes earlier than scheduled.
Who is Jose Fernandez?
Jose Fernandez is a top Hollywood costume designer and builder who had previously worked on creating costumes for MCU and DCEU superheroes.
He worked on superhero costumes used in movies such as Captain America: Civil War, The Amazing Spider-Man, Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Ironman 2.
He and his team at Ironhead Studio built the Batman costumes for Batman Returns (1992), Batman Forever (1995), Batman and Robin (1997), and Batman v Superman (2016).
His team also created Wonder Woman’s superhero costumes, Wolverine’s costume in X2, and Thor and Loki’s helmets for the Thor film series.
He also designed the cowl for Ben Affleck’s Batman in Batman v Superman and headgear for Daft Punk, according to Forbes.
He worked with Elon Musk’ SpaceX for “three to four years” to create the prototype for the close-fitting spacesuits worn by the astronauts. The spacesuits were made from a type of Teflon and Nomex.
Welcome aboard the @SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft!
In this video from space, @AstroBehnken and @Astro_Doug reveal the name of their capsule: Endeavour. Take a look inside as the crew continues their journey to the @Space_Station: https://t.co/K9S5mejONx pic.twitter.com/mvH8UhE5FW
— NASA (@NASA) May 31, 2020
SpaceX first approached him to participate in a costume design competition. According to Forbes, Fernandez said he did not realize at first that the competition was for a real space trip. He thought it was only for a movie production about space.
“I didn’t know what SpaceX was, and I thought it was a film.”
SpaceX’ Demo-2′ mission is the first manned U.S mission in nearly a decade
SpaceX Demo-2 mission is the first manned flight to launch from the U.S. to the ISS since the Space Shuttle mission STS-135 in July 2011. It is also the first human-crewed commercial orbital flight ever.
The blast-off was initially scheduled to take place on Wednesday, but it was canceled due to adverse weather conditions.
Several celebrities witnessed the lift-off
Celebrities who witnessed the lift-off included George Takei, Ellie Goulding, Elizabeth Banks, Karen Gillan, Shannen Doherty, and Jamie Lee Curtis.
Congratulations @SpaceX for an historic achievement! Humanity needs hope, and you have provided a much needed burst of it.
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) May 30, 2020
I watched. Speechless. Incredible https://t.co/HfZUv3dnfZ
— Ellie Goulding (@elliegoulding) May 30, 2020
I cried. Space travel really inspires me. #nasa #SpaceX congrats on today’s launch and safe journey – wow pic.twitter.com/PsrWE4deRr
— Elizabeth Banks (@ElizabethBanks) May 30, 2020
Watching the launch. The moments before with their families. The air hugs. The thumbs up. The bravery. The bold ideas. The innovation. The thousands of people coming together. ??@SpaceX @elonmusk @NASA
— Jamie Lee Curtis (@jamieleecurtis) May 30, 2020
The celebs later took to social media to post comments about the awe-inspiring event.