![](https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5aac26ad0bbf1c1c008b47dd-1200/spacesuits-astronauts-lined-up-illustration-business-insider-2x1.png)
Jenny Cheng/Business Insider
Space may be the final frontier, but it's also inaccessible - and deadly - to human beings without a good spacesuit.
For 57 years, NASA and US companies have met the call to protect high-flying astronauts who risk their lives in the name of exploration.
From the silvery suits of the 1950s and 1960s Mercury program to next-generation commercial and government designs, here's how astronauts' spacesuits have evolved over six decades.
Dragan Radovanovic and Ali Sundermier contributed to this post.