Aisha Bowe has declared the Blue Origin spacesuits are “more than a fashion statement”.
The 38-year-old aerospace engineer and her five other all-female crew mates - pop star Katy Perry, broadcaster Gayle King, Jeff Bezos' fiancee Lauren Sanchez, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen and film producer Kerianne Flynn - flew to the boundary of space on April 15 as they donned the custom-made Monse gradient suit for the 11-minute mission.
And the scientist has insisted their outfits had more significance than just their appearance.
She told People magazine: "I know people are saying, 'It's just fashion.'
"No, we went to space in the suit. It's fashion, it's form, it's function.
"And I love it because now we're seeing designers get into designing space suits.
"I had the opportunity to train with a NASA suit technician before this flight, and what I can tell you is that while those suits are impressive, they're not necessarily custom to everybody.
"For us today, this is more than a fashion statement, it's a nod to what I think will be the future of space where you have flexible, responsive fabrics and you have designers putting their take on what they think the future of space travel looks like."
Aisha - who along with her fellow crew mates took off from Launch Site One in West Texas - also revealed that she plans to gift her suit to the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington.
The star also shared what else she had in her flight bag, alongside a Bahamas flag patch that paid tribute to her family.
She said: "In my flight bag was the personal American flag from Apollo 12 astronaut Pete Conrad - [The] third man to walk on the moon.
"It came from the Museum of Flight from Seattle.
"And when it goes back to the museum, it is also going to have a 'flown in space' certificate from this mission."
