A Glovemaker's Story

Last year NASA awarded a small spacesuit glove prize, $200,000, to a team who could demonstrate a glove prototype that surpassed the performance of the current NASA glove while still meeting sufficient safety requirements. The current gloves work, but they are hard to use in a vacuum and the astronauts get tired pretty quickly. This a perfect example of a small prize dedicated to a specific problem. I think Rand Simberg may have been one of the first to suggest it.

The guy who won, Peter Homer, wrote a column describing his experience. It's a good story of practical engineering.