DIY Spacesuits are now a thing

Portland man plans to ride balloon to the stars

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The latest episode of design podcast, 99 Percent Invisible, delves into a topic long written off as mad science for supervillains: the DIY Spacesuit.

The podcast spends some time hanging out with Portland State University archaeologist and anthropologist Cameron Smith, a man that likes to spend his weekends exploring the outdoors, and has now turned his sights on space. But you know, on a budget.

 From the 99 Percent Invisible blog…

“His homemade space suit costs $2,000. A standard issue suit
from NASA runs about $12 million.

The space suit has been a 3 years in the making. Eventually, Cameron
will put on the suit and step into a gondola and a balloon (also
homemade) will take him up 50,000 feet in the air. At that point, he’ll
be depending on his own craftiness to keep himself alive.”

Smith said part of the reason he is doing it cheaply is simply to prove it can be done cheaply.

You can listen to the podcast here.