The campaign begins Monday, marking 46 years since Armstrong?s moonwalk in 1969. “Kickstarter is a very new and innovative way to go for the Smithsonian”.
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Check out the crowd-funding mission to “reboot the suit” here. Scientists will use techniques like 3D and Connecticut scanning to create a map of the suit.
The museum hopes to have the suit on display at their new Destination Moon exhibition by July 2019, which will be the 50 anniversary of the first moon landing.
“You may be surprised to learn that spacesuits are among the most fragile artifacts in the Museum’s collection”. The spacesuits now on display at the Washington, D.C., museum are only replicas of those worn during the Apollo 11 mission by Armstrong and fellow astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second person to walk on the Moon.
Backers of the project will receive rewards ranging from items such as a Neil Armstrong Spacesuit mission patch or 3-D print of his glove, to a behind-the-scenes experience at the museum or the opportunity to meet an astronaut.
“The Apollo 11 Moon landing was one of the single greatest achievements in the history of humankind”, the Smithsonian explains on the Kickstarter page. It may have been one giant leap for mankind, but it was pretty significant for the suit, as it was made from pretty flimsy materials, designed specifically for short-term use. “We have documentation on that from NASA and [the manufacturer] ILC Dover, but we want to find out more”. This work will help the researchers figure out exactly what display case they should construct.
This is a crowdfunded project, and as such may not deliver what its creators initially promise.
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Traditionally, the institution has had to rely on large private donations and corporate pledges, such as the $30 million Boeing provided for the renovation of the National Air and Space Museum’s Milestones of Flight Gallery, set to open in 2016. The 3D scan is the coolest part of the project, because it’ll give everyone unprecedented access to Neil Armstrong’s historic moonwalk, allowing people to take a self-guided tour of the suit’s details and explore each of its 21 layers, according to Kickstarter. Kickstarter officials believe that the Smithsonian partnership is a unique one, as it does not compete with other fundraising projects on the website. There are more awards at various levels, which you can see on the project’s page. Now his suit’s slow decline requires crowdfunding to save it.
