Of all the places–I never expected to see information about a NASA spacesuit voting initiative on “@midnight,” a comedy game show, last night. But there it is.
And here it is, the suits and voting buttons on this site. NASA is asking the public to vote on their favorite spacesuit design. They are calling this effort the “Spacesuit Design Vote.” There are three choices for the Z-2 spacesuit and all you need to do is figure out which one you like the best–then vote. My least favorite is the one dubbed “Fat Tron” by Chris Hardwick, the host of “@midnight.” You’ll know it when you see it. And the human model NASA’s using to pose in it looks just plain creepy. Give me Milla Jovovich any day.
Voting will close on Tax Day, 15 April 2014 at 2359 EDT. So, like paying your taxes, you can take your time with this one if you want. This means “time is not important: only vote important” to paraphrase a certain movie. Once the tally is taken, the most popular one will then be completed sometime in November 2014. As near as I can tell, there are no country limitations for this vote, so this could potentially be another way the Russians mess with the US. At any rate, your vote could be the one that determines the ultimate look of a future spacesuit. Isn’t that nice?
It could be NASA is doing this to make space exciting for aspiring fashion designers. Maybe it’s trying to show the fashion design world that fashion is badly needed in NASA (honestly, none of the suits are that exciting or interesting to me, but I’m not a designer). Or maybe it will just pin the blame for horrible design tastes on the public when the time comes.
Is it my imagination, or do all the spacesuits look a little bit like the Mondoshawan in “The Fifth Element?”
The Mad Spaceball 