The first astronauts launched by SpaceX are breaking new ground for style with hip spacesuits, gull-wing Teslas and a sleek rocketship � all of it white with black trim.

The color coordinating is thanks to Elon Musk, the driving force behind both SpaceX and Tesla, and a big fan of flash and science fiction.

NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken like the fresh new look. They�ll catch a ride to the launch pad in a Tesla Model X electric car.

�It is really neat, and I think the biggest testament to that is my 10-year-old son telling me how cool I am now,� Hurley told The Associated Press.

�SpaceX has gone all out� on the capsule�s appearance, he said. �And they�ve worked equally as hard to make the innards and the displays and everything else in the vehicle work to perfection.�

The true test comes Wednesday when Hurley and Behnken climb aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and, equipment and weather permitting, shoot into space. It will be the first astronaut launch from NASA�s Kennedy Space Center since the last shuttle flight in 2011.

It will also mark the first attempt by a private company to send astronauts into orbit. Only governments – Russia, the U.S., and China – have done that.

The historic send-off deserves to look good, according to SpaceX. It already has a nice ring. Musk named his rocket after the �Star Wars� Millennium Falcon. The capsule name stems from �Puff the Magic Dragon,� Musk�s jab at all the doubters when he started SpaceX in 2002.

SpaceX designed and built its own suits, which are custom-fit. Safety came first. The cool � or wow � factor was a close second.

�It�s important that the suits are comfortable and also are inspiring,� explained SpaceX�s Benji Reed. a mission director. �But above all, it�s designed to keep the crew safe.�

The bulky, orange ascent and entry suits worn by shuttle astronauts had their own attraction, according to Behnken, who like Hurley wore them for his two previous missions. Movies like �Armageddon� and �Space Cowboys� stole the orange look whenever actors were �trying to pretend to be astronauts.�

On launch day, Hurley and Behnken will get ready inside Kennedy�s remodeled crew quarters, which dates back to the two-man Gemini missions of the mid-1960s. SpaceX techs will help the astronauts into their one-piece, two-layer pressure suits.

Hurley and Behnken will emerge through the same double doors used on July 16, 1969, by Apollo 11?s Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins � the Operations and Checkout Building now bears Armstrong�s name.

But instead of the traditional Astrovan, the two will climb into the back seat of a Tesla Model X for the nine-mile ride to Launch Complex 39A, the same pad used by the moonmen and most shuttle crews. It�s while they board the Tesla that they�ll see their wives and young sons for the last time before flight.

Making a comeback after three decades is NASA�s worm logo � wavy, futuristic-looking red letters spelling NASA, the �A� resembling rocket nose cones. The worm adorns the Astro-Tesla, Falcon and even the astronauts� suits, along with NASA�s original blue meatball-shaped logo.

The white-suited Hurley and Behnken will transfer from the white Tesla to the white Dragon atop the equally white Falcon 9.

�It�s going to be quite a show,� Reed promised.

(AP)