Astronaut boots.

So I’m reading the Columbia Crew Survival Investigation Report, and it’s really fascinating reading. The amount of detail NASA has come up with from the wreckage of the shuttle is just amazing. NASA truly has the best and the brightest working for them. I just finished reading about the survival suits that they wear for reentry (§3.2.1, p. 300), and was totally jealous, because I want one. These suits have two parachutes, light sticks, smoke flares, a radio, emergency signal, motion sickness pills, a life jacket, a radio beacon, supplemental oxygen, and a life raft (!), along with lots of other toys.Rocky BootsNot an inch of space goes to waste in the thing, and NASA has clearly put an enormous amount of research into developing it. So I was a bit surprised when I go the the section about their boots.

Astronauts wear “Rocky 911 commercial off-the-shelf boots”. They can be yours for $124.99, direct from their Ohio maker’s headquarters. (Though they are not, sadly, American-made.) I’m not really in the market for this kind of footwear, but if I were, the Rocky 911s would definitely be my choice.

Published by Waldo Jaquith

Waldo Jaquith (JAKE-with) is an open government technologist who lives near Char­lottes­­ville, VA, USA. more »