Wednesday, April 10, 2013

100 Days

After three years of building I'm now about 100 days from testing the pressure suit in an altitude chamber in Denmark, in collaboration with the private space program Copenhagen Suborbitals; so I am 'head-banging' the project to make the schedule, working night by night! I've lost track of the number of times I've woken at 3am, over the past few years, unable to sleep with twenty pressure-related issues circling in my mind...
In the photo, new seaming of the pressure restraint garment, and just about in the final configuration. Sewing handmade sails, a skill I learned a long time ago, is one of the most useful skills I've ever developed. I learned that skill to make a replica of a pre-Columbian sailing vessel -- now it's used to build a functional space suit for balloon exploration of the stratosphere!

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