meet AIR-0, the inflatable work boots for astronauts who work outside of a spaceship

the designers develop the footwear at MIT, keeping in mind the astronauts floating around the low earth orbit.

C Jacob Payne edited by matthew burgos June 9, 2025 4 min

inflatable work boots for astronauts in space

AIR-0 is a pair of inflatable work boots for astronauts who work outside of a spaceship when they’re out of Earth. Designers Gert Duvenhage, Orr Kalati, Yuying Lin, and Jacob Payne develop the techy footwear at MIT, keeping in mind the astronauts floating around the Low Earth Orbit, or LEO. Since there’s no gravity in LEO, it’s hard for the space cadets to stay in one place. It’s also challenging for them to push and pull objects. The designers say that their inflatable work boots for astronauts can help with this issue.

The footwear has two main parts. One part is a lock, while the other part is air support. The bottom of the shoes is 3D printed soles that can rotate. The footwear also has transparent tubes attached to them to inflate the airbags before putting them on. As soon as the bags balloon, the astronauts can step out of the spaceship and feel as if they were standing firmly even if they were actually floating in space.

inflatable work boots astronauts — all images courtesy of Gert Duvenhage, Orr Kalati, Yuying Lin, Jacob Payne

two soft airbags fill with air around the ankle

The work boots for astronauts are inflatable, built at MIT as part of the Space Architecture Studio. When the boot locks, two soft airbags fill with air around the ankle. These bags are called pneumatic cushions, and when the air filling is complete, they become firm. This gives support to the ankle, which helps the astronauts find their footing. They use it when they need to move tools or build things outside a space shop. The designers say that the footwear is made from different materials. Some parts are 3D printed hard plastic, while others come from soft plastic.

There’s no light foam and soft cloth inside the inflatable work boots for astronauts to cushion their feet. The airbags are more than enough to do so. The designers also make the airbags from TPU, and they bear parts that let the air in and out. These valves allow the user to fill and expel the air from the footwear. AIR-0 is a design example that can support researchers in space when they need to maintain their vessels or help them carry out tasks outside of the spaceship. So far, there’s no news yet on the availability of the inflatable work boots for astronauts.