|
Author
|
Topic: List of flown Mercury spacesuits
|
Explorer1
Member Posts: 88
From: Los Angeles, CA, USA
Registered: Apr 2019
|
posted 10-09-2019 01:21 PM
   
Does anyone know where I can find a list of flown spacesuits and specifically those for the Mercury program (Alan Shepard's suit from Freedom 7, Gus Grissom's suit from Liberty Bell 7, John Glenn's suit from Friendship 7 and so on). I know there are pictures of the flown Mercury suits online such as on the National Air and Space Museum website but they don't list any kind of NASA source where they got that information from. So I'd like to see something that identifies the flown Mercury suits by their number. From time to time on different space enthusiast websites people will list this kind of statistical information, but where are they getting it from? I'd like to see a source that is official if possible. Maybe this kind of information is listed in the Mercury Flight Reports. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
|
posted 10-09-2019 02:29 PM
Amanda Young, the National Air and Space Museum's former spacesuit curator, includes in her book "Spacesuits" an appendix with spacesuit data, including serial numbers and other information. Here are the serial numbers she lists for the Mercury flown pressure garments: I have also included links to each of the suit's entry in the National Air and Space Museum artifact catalog. |
denali414
Member Posts: 593
From: Raleigh, NC
Registered: Aug 2017
|
posted 10-09-2019 05:55 PM
I have that book. It's an awesome collection of pictures of the suits and history. I'd highly recommend to anyone getting that book to add to their collection. |
Explorer1
Member Posts: 88
From: Los Angeles, CA, USA
Registered: Apr 2019
|
posted 10-10-2019 02:01 AM
I have the book as well and the basis for Amanda Young's 'flown suits' data is indirect. Although the suits at the museum came from the Johnson Space Center with paperwork that identified each suit, I was hoping for a more direct NASA quotable source instead of through the NASM. Would appreciate any suggestions.
|
Larry McGlynn
Member Posts: 1255
From: Boston, MA
Registered: Jul 2003
|
posted 10-10-2019 07:27 AM
There is a memo in the National Archives in the NASA Archives Section that is dated Feb 4th, 1986. The memo provides a complete list including name, mission, and suit serial number of all spacesuits used in spaceflight from MR-3 to STS-51L. You can probably get it by contacting the National Archives via their website. |
Explorer1
Member Posts: 88
From: Los Angeles, CA, USA
Registered: Apr 2019
|
posted 10-10-2019 02:24 PM
Very grateful. Thank you Larry for the excellent suggestion.Can I ask how you discovered that document? Seems so rare a thing to come across. |
MrSpace86
Member Posts: 1618
From: Gardner, KS, USA
Registered: Feb 2003
|
posted 10-10-2019 09:04 PM
So I guess none are displayed at the National Air and Space Museum and are located somewhere/parts unknown. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
|
posted 10-10-2019 09:17 PM
Grissom's suit is on display as part of the "Courageous" exhibit inside Heroes & Legends at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Glenn's suit had been on display as part of the Space Race exhibit at the National Air and Space Museum, but like the others was removed for preservation at the Udvar-Hazy Center's Mary Baker Engen Restoration Hangar. I believe the plan is for Shepard's suit to go on display as part of the Destination Moon gallery after it undergoes a conservation (funded by the same Kickstarter that conserved Armstrong's Apollo 11 spacesuit). |
advertisement