A Boy and His Spacesuit - Part Three

Show Time.
And finally, the debut of my Hallowe'en spacesuit build.  My apologies for not having a full range of pictures, but by the time I reached the end of the process I was more interested in finishing up and getting to bed at a reasonable hour than in thoroughly documenting the process.

Like any good Canadian, I own a hockey bag, which was just barely big enough to fit everything in for the trip to work.  Even without adverse weather conditions, I literally couldn't see my way clear to wear this outfit for the bus trip downtown.

Some shots from my day at work*:

Overall, I consider this to have been a semi-successful project.  I regret not having time to do more elaborate footwear, the paint didn't really adhere to the plastic bucket that made up the collar, so there was a lot of peeling and flaking, and I would have liked to have added lights and sound effects.  So, not perfect, but still good enough to be one of the prize winning costumes.

Sadly, there wasn't a lot of competition.  As I commented to a co-worker's tweenage daughter who was in attendance, Hallowe'en is the only time of year that you get to dress the way that you really want to dress all the time. Why would anyone pass up that kind of opportunity?

- Sid

*  My apologies for the quality of these shots, or more accurately, the lack thereof. If you've wondered if it's really worth it to buy a digital SLR instead of just using your smartphone, wonder no more.

Oh, and in the interests of mild irony, the young woman in the Top Gun outfit posing with me is the previously cited new employee who is unfamiliar with Jean-Luc Picard's standard handoff to Commander Ryker.

 
Postscript

If you've ever wondered what it would be like to wear a spacesuit, I'll be happy to lend out my outfit to the curious.  It's not as much fun as you might think.  Peripheral version drops to zero, the helmet and coverall raises your body temperature, the gloves limit your manual dexterity, and the weight of the whole thing - boots, backpack, armpieces, helmet, etc. - starts to become a burden surprisingly quickly.

And let's not forget, my creation is a pale imitation of the real thing.  The current NASA EVA suit - the Extravehicular Mobility Unit, or EMU - weighs 109 pounds or 49.5 kg.  It will keep an astronaut alive for 8 hours, with a 30 minute backup life support unit in case of problems with the main system. The main limitation of my hamster habitat helmet was lack of air flow, even with the ventilation holes in the top.  But all I had to do was open the visor or take off the helmet - neither one of which would be a viable option for someone working on the outside of the International Space Station.  If something goes wrong in those circumstances...trust me, it takes very little time to use up all the air in a domed helmet.