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NASA is going where no space agency has gone before — the Etsy online crafts market — with a design contest to celebrate the space shuttle era.
Etsy is an e-commerce website specializing in handcrafted goods that blend quality and quirkiness, an "eBay for the artisan crowd," as my colleague Helen A.S. Popkin described it. There are already quite a few space-themed products for sale, ranging from a $5 patterns for a crocheted space shuttle to a $2,000 galaxy quilt. The NASA-backed contest may well add to the selection.
NASA is hoping the contest will spark some spacey ideas from Etsy's 5.5 million members, 96 percent of whom are women, with the majority under 35 years old. Word of the contest has already sparked more than 100 responses to Etsy's call for entries.
"The contest reaches an important audience NASA would like to better engage to help share the excitement that is America's space program," Doug Comstock, NASA's director of partnerships, innovation and commercial space, said today in a space agency announcement. "These craftspeople will bring new perspectives that can help communicate NASA's mission and inspire our next generation of explorers in new ways."
Entrants can submit two-dimensional original art, including paintings and collages as well as computer graphics and photographic prints ... or they can submit three-dimensional creations, including wearable art and soft sculptures. The creation should be inspired by NASA and NASA's programs, such as the space shuttle and human spaceflight, aeronautics or space science and exploration.
The galaxy M64, also known as the Black Eye Galaxy, is immortalized in a quilt for sale on the Etsy craft website.
The grand-prize winner $500 in credit for an Etsy shopping spree, plus an all-expenses-paid trip to Florida to attend the launch of the shuttle Endeavour next February as a VIP. Three best-in-category winners will receive $250 plus goodies from Etsy and NASA.
Printed designs, artwork or photos may be eligible to fly on the space shuttle. But the deadline is coming up quick: By Nov. 2, the creation has to be listed in an online Etsy craft shop. Entrants have to be legal U.S. residents aged 18 or older. The entries will be voted on by visitors to the Etsy website. A panel of crafters and designers will narrow down the field and pick the winners. Winning entries will be selected on Feb. 1.
Check the Etsy "Space Craft Contest" Web page for the official details and answers to frequently asked questions. And may the creative force be with you.
Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page or following @b0yle on Twitter. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," Alan's book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
Leave a Comment:
not impressed and I love astronomy
I'm not impressed either and I love art and astronomy. A galaxy can't be immortalized in a quilt. The quilt will disintegrate way before the galaxy collapses.
As an artist who also loves astronomy... That stimulates and exhibits about as much excitement as a bed of dead oysters.
Not only is it a photoshopped image replica quilt, how in the world
could anyone take astronomy photos and ruin true natural art. What a stupid idea.
Now I see why ANYONE can be an artist
What a bunch of poopy-heads!
C'mon guys, this ain't science, it's art and art for the masses not those goofy folks who paint Campbell's soup cans in day-glo orange or paste multiple monochrome images side by side in a variety of freaky colors.
When I looked at the photo of the quilt my first thought was "Cool!" What fun it is to make and to display. My daughter (who knits) could do that and it would look great.
Loosen your ties fellows and let a little more oxygen and blood get to your brains. It's harmless fun and an interesting story.
I wonder if my daughter could knit one of those space shuttles for me?
I agree with Skip - lighten up you bunch of poopy-heads! :-)
Thanks Miles, sometimes we get too serious about this stuff. Smell a rose, drink a beer, knit a quilt, get a life.
Have a great day.
Dear Mr. Boyle,
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA... *gasp*... HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I cannot WAIT to read your NEXT column. Now I feel bad for trolling your last one.
Sincerely,
J
That's NASA under Obama for you. Instead of going to space, they do emboidery about space. On the bright side, this may be the most significant thing that has happened under the current administration.
I like the quilt. I'd enjoy having it on my bed. But I'm a big nerd so what's new!
Yes, faux nerd is in I hear soon armani will have a pocket protector sewn in it's new line, yes in as alternative rock is really alternative,,,live long and prosper well...
Obviously there is an abundance of geek envy coming from those who are artistically impaired...STOP HATING & START APPRECIATING THE CREATIVE EXPRESSION...MORONS!
I'll appreciate the creative expressions all the more when I'm sitting on another planet, in the meantime NASA
get off your academic azz and go someplace where no man has gone before, and stop hiding behind womans knitted wear...
oh by the way,,think about this in the not too distant future, there will be no humans alive or at least americans that lived during the last moon trip..so NASA if your out of fuel, or your solar panels are stuck, your batteries depleted, your gyro's off axis STOP taking our money and go find your next job in textiles...
John-with-numbers, do the math... the US Military/Industrial Complex gets 56% of the budget every year to continue fighting needless wars, NASA must make do with a mere 1.8% of that budget! They are not 'taking our money', they're barely scraping by with what little they get, but are expected to keep launching shuttles and continue our push into space? If you really want us to go where no man has gone before, how about we stop the petty bickering and wars amongst ourselves on this planet and work toward going to other ones? How quickly could we get to Mars and BEYOND if we upped their share to even 5%? Oh, we can't do that, that might deprive the military of 2 or 3 more multi-million-dollar missiles that need to explode and kill people... money well spent? O.o
Wall Street has been whining to us all how they cannot hire the best & brightest unless they can offer the sweet million-dollar bonuses for executives, shouldn't we be clamoring to get the very best & brightest at NASA in the same fashion? Fewer constraints on their operating budget might go a long way to keeping our shuttles from exploding in-flight or having to make our astronauts hitchhike on other countries' rockets! The image of an American in his spacesuit sticking his thumb out on some other country's launchpad does NOT make us look like a world leader! :/
I am all for people doing art which brings focus onto space. Some day a child that was given a knitted space shuttle may dream of being the first person to visit another planet and accomplishes that dream.
I think it's cool that people have enough interest in space and NASA, to want to knit images of the Shuttle and space, but $2,000.00 for a quilt? Sucker born every minute!
Perhaps the artist doesn't really want to sell the creation but wants to enter the contest. Gee, I didn't know the cosmic people were so angry.
My spacecraft will never fly but I had a "blast" making it! http://www.etsy.com/listing/58823460/titan-trout-1-alternative-spacecraft