Nima Shahinian (co-founder of Nåva Space) had one dream: go to space. He trained for it, negotiated for it, and got closer than almost any private citizen ever has. Then in a single morning, everything collapsed after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. So he did the next best thing. He decided to rebuild the spacesuit instead.

What people don’t know is that NASA has a handful of operational suits left, all 50 years old and becoming dangerous. Plus, Europe has never built a commercial suit yet, so Nima decided to do so.

In this episode, Nima shares how Nåva Space went from a cardboard prototype to testing a next-generation spacesuit with a real ISS astronaut in just 11 months, why an investor he deeply respected told him it could never be done in Europe and why the biggest problem in European space isn't money or talent.

Get in touch with Nima:

https://www.instagram.com/astro_nims/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nima-j-shahinian-6b059086/

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Chapters:

(00:00) Introduction

(03:01) Background: Designer, Soldier, Would-Be Cosmonaut

(06:57) What the Military Taught Him That No Startup Book Will

(16:33) Applying to ESA Without Qualifications

(36:01) How Nima Funded His Own Cosmonaut Training

(42:30) How He Walked Away from the Cosmonaut Program

(51:01) Starting Nåva Space Broke, Wounded, and with No Clear Focus

(56:36) The Global Spacesuit Crisis No One Is Talking About

(01:05:01) How Nåva Went from Cardboard to ESA Astronaut Testing

(01:10:01) Why Every Technology Nåva Builds Has to Work on Earth Too

(01:13:00) Why They Started with a Human, Not an Engineering Spec

(01:18:01) When to Stop Internal Testing and Bring in Real Users

(01:23:00) How a Norwegian Startup Got Access to ESA's Astronaut Center

(01:28:40) Why Nåva Sources a Spacesuit from a Norwegian Boot Maker

(01:39:30) The Investor Who Said You'll Never Build a Suit in Europe

(01:48:01) Final Message: Everything Around You Was Built by Someone

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You will learn:

- Why NASA's spacesuit crisis is more dangerous than anyone is admitting

- How to go from zero to flight-ready spacesuit in 11 months- Why starting with cardboard beats starting with CAD every time

- What an investor who said "you'll never build a suit in Europe" got wrong

- How to find and hire world-class talent for a category that has never existed

- How a spacesuit becomes a defence and industrial product — and why that's the only way to build the business

- When to push 100% and when to stop, the work-life of building in space

- Why Norway is one of the hardest places in Europe to build a space startup

- Why the only question that matters when starting something impossible is: why not you?#spacesuit #nasa #space #spacex