Kimberly Pierceall
Suit Up for Space
(Space suit from Orbital Outfitters)
Space, the final frontier, is feeling a little less like the shaky camera stylings of Star Trek fantasy and more like a place we (everyday people) might get to visit in our lifetimes thanks to the marketing prowess of Virgin Galactic that promises imminent launches of its commercial space flights at a mere $200,000 a pop.
And when we DO start traveling to the not-so-distance reaches of outer space, we'll need suits. That's where Orbital Outfitters come in. The DC-based company was at the Angel Capital EXPO (essentially a speed dating round for investors and young companies) Monday in Palm Desert with its space suit on display. A video that played on the company's displayed laptop showed space travelers in a model of the XCOR spacecraft snapping digital photos from the cockpit.
CEO Jeff Feige was careful not to give away any of the proprietary secrets of the space suit that debuted last October but did mention it'd be more intuitive than current NASA suits so novice flyers could handle it.
"Not all your customers are going to be test pilots," he said. "I knew this was a niche that needed to be filled."
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