When Jared Isaacman popped out of the hatch of the Dragon spaceship Resilience and into the vacuum of space, he really looked pretty spiffy. For the first time in history, a private citizen got (partly) out of a spaceship with nothing between him and our Pale Blue Dot but a sleek, tightly fitting white spacesuit. It wasn't a space walk -- like the one Alexei Leonov took on March 18, 1965, the first-ever by a human -- as much as a "lean out and peek," but he looked like a guy from a sci-fi movie nonetheless.

Everyone who saw it probably thought the same: That suit looks nothing like the ones NASA astronauts use when venturing out of the International Space Station. The SpaceX Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) space overalls looks like the future. NASA's Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) feels old and outdated -- like an oversize relic from the 1980s.

But don't be blinded by the imperial stormtrooper bling. There are plenty of reasons why their designs look so different. While the EMU is currently more rugged and dependable than Elon Musk's stark white space undies, that doesn't mean the SpaceX version is bad. Each suit has its use, and SpaceX's is a great first version that will evolve to keep humans safe on journeys beyond the confines of the Dragon Crew's hatch.

The difference between SpaceX's EVA suit and NASA's EMU isn't so much about aesthetic choices as it is the result of their respective functions, features, and history. At their core, each suit was engineered for different purposes. Also, both suits are at different stages of development, with the EMU being the result of decades of experience and refinements, with very specific mission requirements in mind.