Final Frontier Design is a seed-stage

startup company A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship refers to all new businesses, including self-employment and businesses that never intend t ...

that builds and tests

spacesuit A space suit or spacesuit is a garment worn to keep a human alive in the harsh environment of outer space, vacuum and temperature extremes. Space suits are often worn inside spacecraft as a safety precaution in case of loss of cabin pressure, ...

s. The company's products both enable, and are enabled by, the more recent lower-cost access to

space Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider ...

epitomized by

NewSpace Private spaceflight is spaceflight or the development of spaceflight technology that is conducted and paid for by an entity other than a government agency. In the early decades of the Space Age, the government space agencies of the Soviet Unio ...

launch companies such as

SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) is an American spacecraft manufacturer, launcher, and a satellite communications corporation headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the stated goal of ...

Virgin Galactic Virgin Galactic is an American spaceflight company founded by Richard Branson and his British Virgin Group retains an 11.9% stake through Virgin Investments Limited. It is headquartered in California, and operates from New Mexico. The company i ...

and

XCOR Aerospace XCOR Aerospace was an American private spaceflight and rocket engine development company based at the Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California, Midland International Air and Spaceport in Midland, Texas and the Amsterdam area, the Netherla ...

. FFD was awarded a Phase I SBIR in 2011 and developed pressure garment glove technology under this contract. In July 2011, Final Frontier Design won third place in the ''2011 NewSpace Business Plan Competition'' in

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo County ...

, sponsored by the

Space Frontier Foundation The Space Frontier Foundation is an American space advocacy nonprofit corporation organized to promote the interests of increased involvement of the private sector, in collaboration with government, in the exploration and development of space. I ...

In December 2014, Final Frontier Design obtained an official Space Act Agreement with NASA.

Company

Final Frontier Design was founded in 2010 by "artist and designer"

Ted Southern Ted Southern is an American artist and designer. He is a co-founder of Final Frontier Design and currently lives in Brooklyn, New York, United States. Biography Ted Southern, President of Final Frontier Design, artist, and designer, began his ...

, a former Eyebeam resident, and his partner

Nikolay Moiseev Nikolay Moiseev is a Russian Lead Spacesuit Designer. He was exclusively featured by the documentary series "Made By Russians" for his work in the space industry. He specializes in glove design. He is a co-founder of Final Frontier Design and cu ...

, "a Russian mechanical engineer," with the intent to "craft affordable yet highly capable spacesuits for a burgeoning

commercial spaceflight Private spaceflight is spaceflight or the development of spaceflight technology that is conducted and paid for by an entity other than a government agency. In the early decades of the Space Age, the government space agencies of the Soviet Unio ...

industry." NikInSuit2

Intra-vehicular activity suit

Final Frontier is developing a low-cost

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

inside-the-spacecraft

called an ''Intra-Vehicular Activity suit'' (IVA) which can be pressurized in the event of an emergency, and is projecting to sell the suit at a price of about a fifth of the NASA cost for its existing line of IVA suits that cost around $250,000 each. With the suit weighing a bit under —versus 30 pounds with the NASA suit—could result in economically significant reduction in fuel costs for a flight with a number of astronauts. Final Frontier Design is building its third-generation spacesuit, according to the NASA flight certification standards. Its improvements over the second-generation spacesuit include the ability to withstand greater operating pressure, a carbon fiber waist ring, a retractable helmet, and improved gloves and glove disconnects. The pair took to Kickstarter in June 2012 to raise money for the design and construction of a prototype commercial space suit for intra-vehicular travel — meaning activities that take place inside a spacecraft. Final Frontier had raked in more than $27,000 in July 2012 from 386 backers, exceeding their $20,000 fundraising goal. The goal of the Kickstarter project is to prep a third-generation suit to present to NASA for flight certification by 2013.

References

{{Reflist, 2 Aerospace companies of the United States Companies based in Brooklyn American companies established in 2010