Help Preserve Neil Armstrong’s Spacesuit With This Smithsonian Institute Kickstarter

The Smithsonian Institute recently kicked up a Kickstarter asking for money to help preserve Neil Armstrong’s spacesuit. They’ve long since blasted past their $500,000 goal, and are now hoping to hit a stretch goal of $700,000 total. What for? This time, they’re hoping to preserve the suit of the first American in space: Alan Shepard.

While there’s a very small part of me that finds it just the tiniest bit of sad that the Smithsonian has to turn to Kickstarter (and not the government) for a project such as this, it’s downright grand to see so many people who want to help preserve history. Given the country’s somewhat renewed interest in space exploration with the recent Pluto flyover and the discovery of Kepler 452-b, it looks like the Smithsonian has really nailed their timing.

The Kickstarter features some neat rewards, including a behind-the-scenes visit to the Emil Buehler Conservation Lab to see Armstrong’s suit in person. Oh, and space ice-cream. Of course there’s space ice-cream. You can get your own because the Kickstarter is running ’til August 19th. Check it out!

(via The Register)

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Jessica Lachenal

Jessica Lachenal is a writer who doesn’t talk about herself a lot, so she isn’t quite sure how biographical info panels should work. But here we go anyway. She's the Weekend Editor for The Mary Sue, a Contributing Writer for The Bold Italic (thebolditalic.com), and a Staff Writer for Spinning Platters (spinningplatters.com). She's also been featured in Model View Culture and Frontiers LA magazine, and on Autostraddle. She hopes this has been as awkward for you as it has been for her.

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