Making One and Fitting It Up

I'm about to get sweaty as I put on my new costume that's ready to take on the floor of Comic-Con, but all the parts and pieces are done, it's just time for me to do a final fitting to make sure we're ready to pack it up and head to New York. The first part of this suit is going to be a cooling system - I've found a new thing called a personal cooling system by Comp Cooler on Amazon that's available at a very reasonable price. This is a low-profile backpack with a soft water bag inside full of ice that recirculates cold water through tubular channels wrapped around my chest.

I'm excited to finally have access to this technology, which I've built versions of for previous costumes like my 2001 spacesuit with Chris Hadfield. The shoulders are not an offered feature in the original design, but I've added them because I need a little extra shoulder room in this costume. You'll see once it all comes together - first, you have to take the bag that sits in the backpack and fill it with ice. I'm getting lazy and think I can get this done faster than that - I don't have all minute to waste! Once the bag is mostly full of ice, I fill it with water, which operates much like a camping water dispenser.

It's got a seal up here, and you can run a zip tie through there to seal it off. Then, I put that in this bad boy and hook up the water lines that will recirculate around me for a test of the battery. Excellent! It also adds some realistic bulk to the inside of this suit - there are internal bladders, anti-G suits, and other features that create a kind of bulk inside the suit, which can be hard to replicate.

I'm doing the system check now, and I should feel some coolness in my test very soon. Oh okay, so mostly here now! I wish I had a thermal imaging camera right now because this feels fantastic. Turn that off - orange part, I did a fitting of this about a week ago with Maggie, who built these orange coverings and made some mods we needed to do. The fidelity of these is really pretty impressive; I'm very pleased.

Now comes the undignified part of putting on a spacesuit - yep! Okay, hold on, I'm gonna hang you my zipper, and now we're very good friends. I have lost sight of shoot open the zipper up again, oh yeah, thank you! Hold on, hold on, Norm White handles big, yeah, thank you, Norm! The right tool for the right job - this is an arthroscopic stapler by the way.

Getting in here, hahaha - it's nice to wear this on a daily basis. Harness feels pretty good; it's so nice to have such an uncommon cooling system that I must tell you, it's really quite impressed with it! I think I'm already noticed as soon as I put water in with those ice cubes that they're melting very quickly - like they do because it's a lot of surface area. For New York, what I'm going to do is get a block of ice so I limit the surface area decomposition of the ice and hopefully get more cooling time out of it.

Getting ready for the floor

Ah yes, I had this name tag made but I'm not gonna wear it on the floor - we're trying to give me away! For the floor, I'll be wearing that one. The blank one. Now, I think it's just time to put on the gloves and the helmet - right? Okay, let's put on the helmet first - if this has been so much fun, I've had six or seven collaborators on this job we've worked on for three months.

The helmet is that the Aces helmet - a pretty complex bit of kit, and I'll cover it in more detail once we're in New York. This has been days and days and days and days and days of refinement and machining and hand-building stuff, coming up with like four different paint treatments for different types of blue anodizing, oh that's it - pink!

So that's how the helmet sits, put on the gloves I'm gonna have to work out how to send the cooling without taking off my gloves. May do that by just putting the cooling thing in my Inlet - there we go! Yeah wait, Oh yeah, I just put it right in my thumb. Oh totally perfect!

All ready for Comic-Con

Oh, this is working out even better than I thought. All right, ladies and gentlemen, we are ready to brave the wild space of New York City's Comic-con.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enit is Adam and I am getting ready I'm almost ready for New York City Comic Con and this will be my costume intrepid space fans will recognize this as what's called the Aces helmet that stands for advanced crew escape suit and I have made the suit that goes with it the orange what's known as the pumpkin suit that the shuttle astronauts wore for most of the shuttle flights it was preceded by the le s but I think from 70 all the way till the end the shuttle astronauts wore the orange pumpkin suits and yeah I decided to make one and this is what I'm gonna wear on the floor of comic-con but all the parts and pieces are done it's just time for me to do a final fitting to make sure we're ready to pack it up and go to New York so I'm about to get sweaty the first part of this suit is going to be a cooling system I found this new thing personal cooling system by comp cooler on Amazon for a very reasonable price this is a low-profile backpack with a soft water bag inside full of ice that recirculates that cold water through these tubular channels wrapped around one's chest yeah this is what's gonna keep me cool on the floor I can't believe that a low cost solution has finally come out on the consumer market because I've built versions of this for a previous costumes like my 2001 spacesuit with Chris Hadfield these shoulders are not a an offered feature but I've added them because I need a little bit of shoulder in this costume you'll see once it all goes together first you've got to take the bag that sits in the backpack and fill it with ice see me getting lazy I was like that's gonna take you long I can go get a cup make this happen faster I don't have all minute alright once you've got it mostly full of ice then you fill it with a bunch of water this operates much like a camping water dispenser it's got a seal up here and you can run a zip tie through there to seal it off and then I put that in this bad boy hook up the water lines that will recirculate around me do a test of the battery excellent this also adds ends up adding some realistic bulk to the inside of this spacesuits have many layers to them there are internal bladders there are anti G suits and stuff going on and all of that creates a kind of a bulk inside the suit and that can be sometimes hard to replicate ah there we go come on it works better if it is nice and tight here we go I'm gonna do the system check okay I should feel some coolness in my test very soon oh okay so mostly here now I wish you had a thermal imaging camera right now cuz this feels fantastic okay turn that off orange part I did a fitting of this about a week ago with Maggie hey Mandy a Sohus - built these orange coverings and there was a couple of mods we needed to do and she did them the fidelity of these is really pretty impressive I'm very pleased all right here comes the undignified part of putting on a spacesuit yep okay hold on I'm gonna hang you my zipper and now we're very good friends I have lost shoot open the zipper up again okay oh yeah thank you hold on hold on norm white handles big yeah thank you norm I'm reaching this in here hahaha the right tool for the right job this is an arthroscopic stapler by the way okay so a little sweaty just getting in that part cool down this is I just want to wear this on a daily basis okay harness feels pretty good feels pretty it is so nice to have such a uncommon cooling system I must tell you it's I'm really quite impressed with it I think I'm already noticed as soon as I put water in with those ice cubes that they were melting very quickly like they do because it's a lot of surface area I think for New York what I'm a do is get a block of ice so I limit the surface area decomposition of the ice and hopefully get more cooling time out of it ah yes I had this name tag made but I'm not gonna wear it on the floor cuz we're trying to give me away so for the floor I'll be wearing that one the blank and now I think it's just time to put on the gloves and the helmet right okay let's put on the helmet first if this has been so much fun I've had six or seven collaborators on this job we've been working on it for three months the helmet is that the Aces helmet is a pretty complex bit of kit and I'll cover it in more detail once we're in New York but this has been days and days and days and days and days of refinement and machining and hand building stuff and coming up with like four different paint treatments for different types of blue anodizing oh that's it pink so that's how the helmet sits and put on the gloves I'm gonna have to work out how to be able to send the cooling without taking off my gloves and I may do that by just putting the cooling thing in my Inlet there we go yeah wait Oh yeah I just put it right in my thumb Oh totally perfect oh that is great oh this is working out even better than I thought all right ladies and gentlemen we are ready to brave the wild space of New York City's comic-conit is Adam and I am getting ready I'm almost ready for New York City Comic Con and this will be my costume intrepid space fans will recognize this as what's called the Aces helmet that stands for advanced crew escape suit and I have made the suit that goes with it the orange what's known as the pumpkin suit that the shuttle astronauts wore for most of the shuttle flights it was preceded by the le s but I think from 70 all the way till the end the shuttle astronauts wore the orange pumpkin suits and yeah I decided to make one and this is what I'm gonna wear on the floor of comic-con but all the parts and pieces are done it's just time for me to do a final fitting to make sure we're ready to pack it up and go to New York so I'm about to get sweaty the first part of this suit is going to be a cooling system I found this new thing personal cooling system by comp cooler on Amazon for a very reasonable price this is a low-profile backpack with a soft water bag inside full of ice that recirculates that cold water through these tubular channels wrapped around one's chest yeah this is what's gonna keep me cool on the floor I can't believe that a low cost solution has finally come out on the consumer market because I've built versions of this for a previous costumes like my 2001 spacesuit with Chris Hadfield these shoulders are not a an offered feature but I've added them because I need a little bit of shoulder in this costume you'll see once it all goes together first you've got to take the bag that sits in the backpack and fill it with ice see me getting lazy I was like that's gonna take you long I can go get a cup make this happen faster I don't have all minute alright once you've got it mostly full of ice then you fill it with a bunch of water this operates much like a camping water dispenser it's got a seal up here and you can run a zip tie through there to seal it off and then I put that in this bad boy hook up the water lines that will recirculate around me do a test of the battery excellent this also adds ends up adding some realistic bulk to the inside of this spacesuits have many layers to them there are internal bladders there are anti G suits and stuff going on and all of that creates a kind of a bulk inside the suit and that can be sometimes hard to replicate ah there we go come on it works better if it is nice and tight here we go I'm gonna do the system check okay I should feel some coolness in my test very soon oh okay so mostly here now I wish you had a thermal imaging camera right now cuz this feels fantastic okay turn that off orange part I did a fitting of this about a week ago with Maggie hey Mandy a Sohus - built these orange coverings and there was a couple of mods we needed to do and she did them the fidelity of these is really pretty impressive I'm very pleased all right here comes the undignified part of putting on a spacesuit yep okay hold on I'm gonna hang you my zipper and now we're very good friends I have lost shoot open the zipper up again okay oh yeah thank you hold on hold on norm white handles big yeah thank you norm I'm reaching this in here hahaha the right tool for the right job this is an arthroscopic stapler by the way okay so a little sweaty just getting in that part cool down this is I just want to wear this on a daily basis okay harness feels pretty good feels pretty it is so nice to have such a uncommon cooling system I must tell you it's I'm really quite impressed with it I think I'm already noticed as soon as I put water in with those ice cubes that they were melting very quickly like they do because it's a lot of surface area I think for New York what I'm a do is get a block of ice so I limit the surface area decomposition of the ice and hopefully get more cooling time out of it ah yes I had this name tag made but I'm not gonna wear it on the floor cuz we're trying to give me away so for the floor I'll be wearing that one the blank and now I think it's just time to put on the gloves and the helmet right okay let's put on the helmet first if this has been so much fun I've had six or seven collaborators on this job we've been working on it for three months the helmet is that the Aces helmet is a pretty complex bit of kit and I'll cover it in more detail once we're in New York but this has been days and days and days and days and days of refinement and machining and hand building stuff and coming up with like four different paint treatments for different types of blue anodizing oh that's it pink so that's how the helmet sits and put on the gloves I'm gonna have to work out how to be able to send the cooling without taking off my gloves and I may do that by just putting the cooling thing in my Inlet there we go yeah wait Oh yeah I just put it right in my thumb Oh totally perfect oh that is great oh this is working out even better than I thought all right ladies and gentlemen we are ready to brave the wild space of New York City's comic-con\n"