Crowdfund Armstrong’s moon suit

It’s one small step for the Smithsonian, one giant leap for crowdfunding.

The Smithsonian Institution has surpassed its $500,000 funding goal after creating a Kickstarter project to mount an exhibit featuring the spacesuit worn by Neil Armstrong (left) when he became the first person to step on the moon, in 1969.

The Armstrong project is the first time the Smithsonian has ventured into crowdfunding, and it’s also the first time that Kickstarter, which requires fundraisers to meet their targets or walk away emptyhanded, has formed this kind of partnership with a museum.

The Smithsonian and Kickstarter both said they would work on three to four projects over the next year, and Kickstarter will give advice and help the museum shape additional funding projects.

While the Smithsonian receives federal funding — requesting $850 million from Congress for 2015 — that money goes toward salaries, research, maintenance and keeping the collections safe. It has to raise private funds for new exhibits, which typically is done through private philanthropy.

The Smithsonian chose to partner with Kickstarter this time because of its community, said Yoonhyung Lee, director of digital philanthropy at the Smithsonian.

“Kickstarter has wonderful brand recognition and an amazing community that’s very vested in what’s happening on Kickstarter,” Lee said.

Kickstarter has had about 9.1 million backers on the platform since it started in 2009.

The Smithsonian will use the Kickstarter funding to preserve, display and digitize Neil Armstrong’s moon suit.

This campaign is about preserving the spacesuit, including creating a climatecontrolled display case and a 3D digitization of the suit.

“We knew we had to start with something that out of the gate showed how the Smithsonian has this wonderful iconic object that is in need of public care,” Lee said.

Donors in the “reboot the suit” campaign were offered everything from a thankyou email for as little as $1 to a 3D scan data to make a 3D print of Neil Armstrong’s moonsuit glove ($35) to a tour of the conservation lab and restoration hanger ($1,000) to what it calls the ultimate behindthescenes experience ($10,000).