Clever Etsy Members Can't Become Astronauts

Think you've got the Right Stuff? Then break out the crochet needles, fire up the pottery wheel, or begin burning new screen printing designs.

Brooklyn-based Etsy, the homemade wares website, has struck a deal with NASA to send its best and brightest handcrafted goods into outer space.

Speaking at a PSFK Conference today, Etsy founder Robert Kalin (SA 100 #50) explained a program he said Etsy and NASA are calling "Space Craft". The idea: Etsy members create products based on the NASA logo. The best will become part of the NASA gift shop. And the two best of those get launched into space, Kalin said.

This confused much of the audience, "who seemed a bit taken aback," notes CNET's Caroline McCarthy. Many of them, including Caroline, seemed to think that Etsy and NASA were going to send the crafters themselves into space. Alas, no.

But we still think John Glenn is working on a funky NASA jewelery design as we speak.