For this homemade Apollo Astronaut costume I started in early October and began assembling the pieces I’d need.
Some of the stuff I had on hand, while other things had to be ordered from the internet.
Apollo Astronaut costume items I had on hand
- Ski Gloves
- Wrestler’s Ear Guards
- Storage Barrel
- Black Thermal Long Underwear
- Boom Mike from Dragon Speak software
- Axe Shampoo Bottles
- Suave Shampoo Bottles
- Black packing Foam from an Xbox
- Large US Flag
- Silver Duct Tape
- Spray on Craft Glue
Apollo Astronaut costume items I purchased locally
- 2 Tyvex Painter Suits
- Handheld US Flag
- White, Red (metallic), Blue (metallic) spray paint
- Gold Testers Paint
- .5 Yard of White Demim
- .5 Yard of Black Felt
- White Duct Tape
- Black and White Plastic Scotch Tape
- White Velcro
- Snap Fastener Kit
- Sky Blue Acrylic Paint
- Led Tap Light-
Apollo Astronaut costume items I ordered from the Internet
- 16″ Acrylic Lighting Globe
- Army Surplus Cold Weather Boots
- NASA Patches
I’d work on the homemade Apollo astronaut costume a bit each evening and went through lots of NASA photos. There are probably 8 – 10 hours of time involved. The worst part is the taping. You must have an exacto blade and a cutting surface or the tape gets messed up. I perfected a technique pretty early.
The end result is really authentic and practical. I got tons of compliments. Someone asked if they could rent it from me :)
I can sit and drive with it on, and based on what you wear underneath, the costume can be very toasty or very cool. The whole thing weighs about 2 lbs – minus boots and helmet so you can party all night. The front zipper makes it easy in and out in under 30 seconds. And it wont burn if in contact with fire. Tyvex is somewhat flame retardant.
The trick to making it last is taping every seam in the Tyvex suit before constructing. The sewn seams on one of these suits are the first to rip.
The collar is a barrel ring and the helmet “pops” on to it and is held in place by friction between the suit and helmet materials.
The ring is actually loose but when the neck of the suit is zipped it is locked in place. I kept the entire zipper on the suit after cutting off the hood and it allows me to cinch the neck opening shut, thus locking in the collar so it zips up smoothly. The name tag is Velcro so it assists in holding the zipper together at the weakest point of the suit.
I’ll reuse this costume next year too. Add monkey mask – Planet of the apes!
Here are some more cool astronaut costume ideas…
Related costumes:
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Coolest Astronaut Homemade Halloween Costume 
One Small Step for Man Astronaut Costume 
DIY Toddler Astronaut Costume and Space Ship 
Coolest Girls Astronaut Costume 
Homemade Astronaut Costume in Honor of Neil Armstrong 
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Coolest Homemade Astronaut Costume
Wow what a terrific costume!
Thanks Mark!
I would love to see a step by step for the helmet! Great Job!!!!!
wow… i really like your costume !
I’m definitely going to make this for Halloween this year. Request –
Can you post the dimensions and templates for the helmet?
You might also want to post this on Instructables.
Hi Greg!! My boyfriend and I are currently working on your FANTABULOUS (fantastic+fabulous) costume (tough jog, but maybe we can manage to do it!!). Since we’re doing it thanks to your help and your videos, we would like to send you our photo when it’s finished, may we? We’re still working on the hardest part: the helmet (I hope it will come out as yours!). So for now..
CIAO from VENICE!!
This is fantastic! I’ve been kicking around astronaut costume ideas using Tyvek for awhile now and this definitely gives me some inspiration.
My favorite touch is the use of shampoo bottle caps for knobs, it’s pure genius. If I end up making my own I’ll definitely use your idea.
I have the whole costume boxed up for next year, but I’ll probably loan it out to a friend to have fun with next Halloween.
You really did an amazing job.
I think it’s cool that you all like it!
I started working on mine today. I haven’t gotten very far, I’ve only taped up the seems haha.
I’ve decided to take some creative liberties and stray from the realism, partly for budget and partly because I just like to put my own creative spin on things rather than simply copying someone else’s idea (not that it is a bad thing when the idea is as awesome as yours lol)
My costume is going to have a backpack/life support system so I can house some speakers to play spacey music when I enter a room. I also picked up a voice amplifier for $10 on ebay and it gives me a nice crackly astronaut sound. I’m also planning on adding a drink tube so I don’t have to remove my helmet if I get thirsty.
Mickey boots are a little out of my budget, so I am planning on using my current snow boots and making white gaiters to cover the leather. I will also be using a smaller acrylic globe, either 14″ or 12″, whichever one works better when I get around to drawing up some measurements. I’m only 5′ 3″ so I think a 16″ globe will just be too big.
As far as I know, those thing you call knobs are actually connection ports for various hoses. I’m guessing for air, cooling and possibly sensor wires. Also, the blue storage barrel, what was it’s intended use or where did you get it?
My boyfriend LOVES NASA could I purchase this from you? Even renting would be nice!
Fantastic inspiring costume
I’ve begun making this myself for a 60s party. Ive had to make a papier mache helmet because you cant get hold of those globe things too easily here in the uk.
You can purchase it from me. I’ll be putting it on craig’s list and ebay around Sept 10th 2011.
Under which city?
I thought that you are obligated to sell it on ebay if there is a bid. Don’t see how you could pull it off and then sell in for $180 on Craigs. Just wonderin”?
You dont have to sell your item if it does not meet your minimum price.
I am happy to announce the final bid on ebay for the astronaut suit costume was an unbelievable $500.11 – combined to my winnings off of Coolest Costumes ($125.00) and the astronaut suit netted $625.11!!! Thanks everyone for their bids and nice comments.
hey great costume!!! i am going to make on of these for our youth group @ church we need one for the 2012-2013 school year… that is unless you would like to sell the one you made to us?
I don’t have the costume anymore – It’s been sold. good luck making them they should be cool.
Where did u bought the Plastic Globe?
The globe can be bought at online bulb stores.
I found that you can make the helmet rings by cutting the top portion of a Lowes blue 5 gallon bucket (@$2.78)
This is my second astronaut costume I’ve made (I created the suits out of canvas not tyvek) and I used the top of 5 gallon buckets to make the neck ring.
But this is my first time making a version of the helmet. How did you cut the bottom hole, is there any risk of cracking it?
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR POSTING THIS!! My son chose Neil Armstrong for his biography project and needed a costume for his oral presentation. It came out great although since I was pressed for time I did not make a helmet. It probably would have been even better with the helmet. But we did make a back pack. i can’t wait for him to go to school tomorrow and give his presentation!!
I’m glad you all like it. It’s a hard costume to top and never goes out of style… Classic.
I seem to recall you having a site that had a template for the helmet cover. Is it still online? I can’t find it. Thanks!
What tape did you use for the seams? A white duct tape?
Greg, I wanted to thank you very much for sharing this information. We just produced a short sci-fi film and we used your instructions as a guide. We adapted it for a Russian cosmonaut. I wanted to get in touch to thank you and share the film with you (and we would love to credit you in the film). If you want to get in touch head over to http://www.matterofchance.com and send me an email.
Thanks,
Josh
I hoped someone could use the idea like that. Great news and that makes me very pleased.
Hi grerg your costume is totally rad, cool, awesome and all synonyms for awesome. Could you upload the helmet pattern? or maybe sell the pattern? I would like to make this costume for a school project :]
I was planning on buying an astronaut costume but the ones on sale were just… welll not as accurate as yours. Could you please upload the pattern or sell it? Please email me at carlajasso94@hotmail.com
Hey Joshua Provost, are you going to post your results online? Let us know!
The closest thing i have to a pattern for the helmet are the pictures in the slide show. I wrapped the sphere then made guide marks and cut it off. Those pieces were transferred to white denim, and pinned with straight pins. Then, i used pencil and outlined them making sure to leave about 1/2 inch of material outside my pattern so i’d have something to sew together. From there, just a matter of patience, sewing the denim together so my marks would meet back up. The pattern was then reused for black felt with 1/4 inch material.That never was sewn but glued inside the sphere.