Rick Tumlinson was introduced as “the space pirate.” When you hear about the projects he is currently working on, you understand why. Between pioneering the ultra-extreme sport “spacediving” (skydiving from space) and designing good-looking, functional spacesuits for both the crew and passengers on private space flights, Rick is one of the more flashy space entrepreneurs. It was a thrill to just hear about all the things he is up to these days.

Rick began by describing spacediving - how it can be feasible and some of the major barriers to its development. The primary concern was cost: of the operations team, insurance, and the spacesuit. In fact, the need for a new, flexible suit for spacediving drove Rick to found Orbital Outfitters.

He then talked at length about the development of his suits. Rick has formed an all-start team of experts from space medicine folks, a scuba professional, and the guy who designed the spacesuits for movies including Armageddon (who comes from an engineering background, don’t worry). This team knows that the suit must look as cool as it works well, in order to be appealing to the huge population of potential space tourists.

The Orbital Outfitters team has decided to design separate suits for the crew and passengers, since each group has different needs. In the event of an emergency, crew suits must be flexible when in a vacuum. This means that more attention must be paid to the individual crew member’s body shape. For the passengers, the same need for emergency flexibility does not exist, whereas there is a higher desire for comfort. Thus, the team has designed suits that are meant to be loose-fitting, like clothes, in a pressurized environment and more rigid in a vacuum. Because of these less-stringent requirements, each individual passenger does not need their own custom-designed spacesuit (although Rick plans to sell them to happy space tourists as memorabilia).

He then touched again on spacediving, clarifying that while it seems like the most dangerous activity imaginable, it is ultimately designed for safety. In the event of a critical malfunction during the ascent phase of a rockets, giving the crew and passengers the opportunity to bail out is a good extra measure of safety.

Finally, Rick described his approach towards entrepreneurship in this industry. He said that instead of going for all the glory of building rockets, with the associated very high barriers to entry, he chose a smaller niche (spacesuits) with a much lower cost entry point. From there, he said, one can ensure the longevity of a company by establishing profitability sooner, and -then- think about the larger projects. He stressed the importance of having fun with this industry.

As a skydiver, I was intrigued by his talk. I talked to him afterwards about getting involved with the design of the spacediving experience, and he seemed interested.

I now head to the first ever Space Bloggers Summit!