Drink Dispensing Zombie Moon-Landing Neil Armstrong

The air hoses on this costume pull out to pour drinks hidden in the "life support back pack". This can, as I found out, get you in some trouble at a bar, so be smart. Also, obviously , if you aren't 21 please do not drink alcohol.

2012 marked the end of an era for me. NASA closed its shuttle program and the world lost a living legend when the first man to walk on the the moon died. I've always wanted to be an astronaut for Halloween and it seemed to me this was the most relevant year to do it. I humbly submit my costume and my first instructable.

Please VOTE for me! I am submitting this costume just 5 or 6 days before the end of the competition so I could really use the support.

 Im not sure what I need to do to make these instructions step by step. If there is something that is not clear from the images let me know and I will clarify. 

The box on my chest is made from an old cigar box that I got from the machinist at school. The black box inside it is a speaker with a microphone I ran into the helmet. I found this for $12 at party city and the crackling speaker amplified my voice. I was impressed with how easy this step was and how much it sounded like a radio transmission. The red and blue buttons are the tops to silly string cans I glued on with hot glue. The light in the middle is a push light from home depot. The PVC fitting on the top of the box holds onto the air hoses that pull out to dispense drinks.

The helmet I purchased from amazon for $24. I spray painted it white and then used reflective auto tinting on the plastic visor to create the reflective look of the apollo helmets. I found it necessary to cut the tinting into strips before applying it because of the curvature of the visor. Otherwise you end up with bubbling. It took me about 2 hours to create the helmet because of this but the look of it is great and you can see out through the visor perfectly. 
The lighting on the outside of the helmet are small battery operated drawer lights from home depot running about $5. 
The blue lighting on the inside of the helmet is E.L. wire (Electroluminescent Wire) which I had purchased from amazon months ago for a different project. I would guess that it costs somewhere between 20 and 30 for the 6 ft section with the driver that powers it. The wire ran through the helmet, and down my back inside the costume, I kept the batteries in my pants pocket inside the costume. This effect was quite dramatic in dark places but it made it difficult to see out of the helmet if the visor was down. For this reason I simply switched it off if I wanted to close the visor. 

The backpack is made of military load bearing backpack frame ($9 on amazon plus shipping) and PVC pipe. I ziptied the PVC box I made to the ALICE backpack. I then attached 2 camel packs (free because i had them lying around) to the inside of the box with more zipties. It is important to have the camel packs tight if you intend on jumping around. 
After a trip to Joanne Fabrics I wrapped the PVC frame with fabric. At first I sewed the material on but soon resorted to spray adhesive because sewing is hard. The back flap is held down with two buttton snaps I bought at the fabric store. Total cost maybe $20 for the fabric and buttons. On the inside of the backpack I attached a push light. This illuminated the pack from the inside and gave it a very cool/eerie glow in the dark look. 
The air tubes are made from the cheapest tubing I could find at home depot  I attached bits of PVC to the ends of them to keep the nozzle from the camel back from getting pulled back inside of the tubing. The PVC ends on the hoses but perfectly into the PVC on the Cigar box. This allows you to easily pull the tube out of the box on your front (the same one that houses the speaker) and take a sip of your tasty beverage of choice. 

The astronaut suit is a tyvek suit from home depot $8, these suits are pretty cheap so try and buy the most durable they have. Once you get it home, duct tape all the seams (on the inside of the suit) with white duct tape. These suits are about as tough as paper and they have a tendency to rip along the seams. I taped this one and had no problems. 
I used a small american flag on a stick I had left over from July 4rth as my US flag on my arm. I like this because it is bigger than most of the patches I found and if you look at the old Apollo pictures, thee flag is very prominent in the real space suits. I also bought some USA flag patches and miscellaneous NASA patches that I attached with spray adhesive. 

My cap under the helmet is a water polo cap I borrowed from my schools team. (free)

I bought Kangoo Boots off of amazon. This was my biggest expense ($140) but I plan on selling them back on eBay to recoup some of that money. They were AWESOME. I know its a little over the top but if its in your budget I would absolutely spring for these. The effect is hysterical, it really makes you look like your running around on the moon. These and a flag complete the feel of that first moon landing. 

Add lots of blood if you want to go as a zombie Neil Armstrong, I would love to see someone else do this costume without the blood/grossness. 

Total Time for this costume was about 3 hrs a day for 3 days, not including shipping. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this, enjoy the pictures and let me know if you have any questions. Oh and please Vote!

Ian