Moonage Daydream Awakens

The Smithsonian's first online crowdfunding project has ended after raising $US719,779 ($977,100) to restore the spacesuit Neil Armstrong wore when he walked on the moon. Curators say the spacesuit is in fragile state.

A total of 9,477 people contributed to the month-long Kickstarter campaign Reboot the Suit, which surpassed its $US500,000 goal.It was the Smithsonian's first crowdfunding project. The spacesuit will be ready for viewing by 2019.

"It is mind-blowing," said the Smithsonian's director of digital philanthropy, Yoonhyung Lee.
"We did not really expect to both hit our goal so quickly and also to exceed our goal so dramatically. This was a huge triumph for us," she said.

It was the first time the Smithsonian has turned to crowdfunding to help cover the cost of preserving its most valuable artefacts from the ravages of time.The campaign kicked off on July 20, on the 46th anniversary of the historic Apollo 11 lunar landing. Its conclusion coincided with National Aviation Day.

With cash in hand, the Smithsonian is now aiming to have Armstrong's white spacesuit and helmet ready for public viewing by the 50th anniversary in 2019. "The suit is pretty fragile," Lisa Young, the Smithsonian curator tasked with overseeing its three-year restoration project, said."It's reaching about its 50-year lifespan right now. A lot of its materials were made for temporary use – to get to the moon and back."We see the rubber getting a little bit brittle. The interior portions that the public doesn't see are what's really the most fragile."

Layers of polymers were used to create the suit, but back in the 1960s scientists had no clear idea how long they would last, Ms Young explained. "Natural materials tend to last longer," she said.

Although the US government pays for the upkeep and safeguarding of the Smithsonian's network of museums and galleries, exhibitions and restorations depend largely on private donations.

Depending on how much they put in, backers of the Kickstarter appeal got rewards ranging from a NASA space mission patch to a printed 3D copy of Armstrong's space glove.Nine people who each put in the maximum contribution of $US10,000 ($13,500) will be invited to see the moon suit at the Smithsonian's aerospace conservation lab.

Armstrong died in his native Ohio three years ago at the age of 82. The Apollo 11 capsule in which he and two fellow astronauts travelled to the moon endures as a centrepiece of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum along the National Mall in downtown Washington. With an annex alongside Dulles International Airport outside Washington, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum holds the world's biggest collection of historic aircraft and spacecraft.