She worked with Pablo de Leon, the aerospace engineer and faculty researcher in space studies who is managing the North Dakota Experimental Planetary Space Suit project.  He called upon her wide-ranging knowledge of fabrics, sewing machines and methods, and technical expertise as a designer.

“Pablo showed me what they’d been working on and told me I’d be making one of the outer layers for the space suit,” said Liepold, who holds a degree in home economics with an emphasis in textiles and clothing from the University of Minnesota-Mankato.  “The big thing was to build an outer layer with extra space around the joints for flexibility.”

The material, a bright blue polyester gabardine, is lined with a prequilted cotton inner layer.  “The part I built is a two-layer suit in two pieces, pants and a separate top, all fastened with Velcro so that the person inside can get out quickly.”

“It took me about 40 hours — spread out over several weeks — to assemble the garment,” says Liepold.  “The biggest challenge I had was getting it to fit, especially since I wouldn’t be able to see the suit fully inflated.”

She also noted that making an oversize square back to accommodate extra equipment, together with a round opening for the helmet attachment, posed a special challenge.

Liepold says her early career experience shaped the skills she needed for the exacting work on a Mars space suit.

“My first job out of college was at a dry cleaner doing alterations,” she said.  “The boss’s wife was very particular about how everything looked; if she didn’t approve, she’d rip it out at night and we’d have to put it back together in the morning.  I learned to do it perfect the first time because putting it together two or three times was no fun.”