Kickstarter isn't just for Zach Braff and potato salad. The National Air and Space Museum launched its first crowdfunding campaign on the site Monday as the start of a year-long partnership between the Smithsonian museums and Kickstarter, The Washington Post reports. And it's quite the first project: The museum is asking for $500,000 to conserve, digitize, and exhibit the space suit Neil Armstrong wore when he set foot on the moon 46 years ago today.
The museum is aiming to display the suit in a special climate-controlled case by 2019 — in time for the Apollo 11 mission's 50th anniversary — and then make it the centerpiece of a new gallery. Early on the Kickstarter's first day, people have already scrounged together more than $14,000. That's one small step for crowdfunding; one giant leap for museum conservation.