Feel Like You’re Walking on the Moon With Gravity-Defying Shoes

Magnets in the soles of these "moon shoes" create an out-of-this-world sensation

Vashti Hallissey - 13 january 2016

 

A pair of shoes will help people experience what it feels like to walk on the moon without having to land a job at NASA. The 20:16 Moonwalker and the 20:16 MoonWalker V2 include strategically placed magnets in two layers of the sole, creating a repellent effect that makes users feel light on their feet.
Created by New Yorked-based company Moonshine Crea, the 20:16 MoonWalker shoes have a thick white sole, a simple, molded body in gray and white and a padded non-slip tongue. The outer layers are made from water-resistant synthetic fabric and the top layer of the sole is made from memory foam, which adjusts to the unique shape of your foot. From the outside, they look like urban, slip-on trainers mixed with platform shoes.
While the shoes have a simple appearance, they have a lot going on beneath the surface. The insides are made with the same material NASA uses on their space station modules. And most impressively, they feature patent-pending technology that promises to make the user feel weightless.
The soles are embedded with 45 Neodymium magnets, ultra-powerful magnets which are generally used to lift things, from barbells to cars. These are strategically placed in the shoe to repel each other and push the layers apart, creating a force field that gives the user the feeling of being free from gravity.


The 20:16 MoonWalker V2 is another version of the shoes which gives the user the option of customizing the design. They can connect the shoes to a smartphone app to display updates on the soles using e-ink.
While the details of how this would work are less clear, the main selling point of the 20:16 MoonWalker is that they give people the chance to feel what it’s like to walk on another celestial body just by putting on a pair of shoes. It’s a concept that has captured many peoples’ imaginations; the 20:16 MoonWalker Indiegogo campaign has raised over $99,000, beating its target of $20,000 with 19 days left to go.



While these shoes sadly won’t give users the ability to moonwalk like Michael Jackson, they could offer people an outer space experience without even having to leave the house.