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Author
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Topic: New Mexico Museum of Space History
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Robert Pearlman Editor Posts: 42988 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 10-05-2008 02:06 PM
Alamogordo Daily News: Space history museum turns 32 years old Inside the museum, known as the "Golden Cube" nearly from the initial planning, is one of three Soviet Sputnik Is known to be left in the world. Adjacent is the United States' response to Sputnik: a mockup of Explorer 1.The first U.S. satellite held James Van Allen's radiation detector that discovered radiation belts surrounding Earth. Early in his career, Van Allen tested similar devices at White Sands Proving Grounds. The museum also displays a basalt rock from the moon, one of 832 pounds of rocks Apollo astronauts returned with; as well as the Moon hemisphere sculpture that hung behind CBS newsman Walter Cronkite on July 20, 1969, when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. Other artifacts include trinitite from the world's first atomic bomb test on July 16, 1945, at WSMR, along with mementoes from Joe Kittinger's jump from 102,800 feet during Project Manhigh. Ed Dittmer, an Alamogordo resident, is featured in displays training chimps HAM (an acronym for Holloman Aero Medical) and Enos. Dittmer participated in Manhigh, too. He and Kittinger were also the first Americans to perform the first parabolic flights over White Sands that create 20-30 seconds of weightlessness for astronaut training. Today the maneuver is done in what is called the "Vomit Comet." And, HAM is buried on the grounds. |
Jurg Bolli Member Posts: 977 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Nov 2000
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posted 10-06-2008 11:54 AM
This is a great museum, and the landscape around it, White Sands in particular, is worth a visit. Jurg |
spaceychick Member Posts: 35 From: Lockport, IL USA Registered: Sep 2008
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posted 10-14-2008 10:48 AM
This was a surprisingly nice museum. I wore my "HAM - Astrochimp" t-shirt the day I visited and the ladies at the ticket counter were so impressed, they let me in free!! I left a banana on Ham's grave as a tribute. Check out my pics: 1 | 2 Lisa ------------------ spaceychick spaceychick.com |
Lou Chinal Member Posts: 1306 From: Staten Island, NY Registered: Jun 2007
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posted 10-14-2008 12:44 PM
Lisa-I wondered were Ham's "spacesuit" was. The spacecraft (production #5) was at McDonnell for a long time. It was used in tests at Wallops Island of the Stullken flotation collar, after the flight. I often thought it should be on display with other Ham memorabilia. -Lou |
AFGAS Member Posts: 89 From: Merritt Island, FL Registered: Feb 2008
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posted 10-15-2008 09:57 AM
Ham's Mercury spacecraft is on display at the California Science Center in Los Angeles, CA. Check the Field Guide here. |
spaceychick Member Posts: 35 From: Lockport, IL USA Registered: Sep 2008
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posted 10-15-2008 10:35 AM
I've seen Ham's capsule in California (see my pic). I also saw some of his "stuff" at the Air Force Museum at Wright Patterson in Ohio.Lisa ------------------ spaceychick spaceychick.com | |
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