posted 09-06-2012 02:49 AM               

Neil Armstrong's gloves and visor on rare display at Smithsonian

The gloves and visor that the late Neil Armstrong wore during his historic moonwalk are now on display for the first time in more than a decade.

On Tuesday (Sept. 4), the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum retrieved Armstrong's spacesuit artifacts from its preservation facility and placed them on exhibit at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in northern Virginia. The visor and gloves will be on display for two weeks while the country continues to mourn the Aug. 25 death of the first man to step foot on the moon.

"With the unfortunate, untimely death of Neil Armstrong, we thought we had to do something and there really is no benefit in preserving something if the public cannot see it forever," explained Cathleen Lewis, spacesuits curator at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

"We considered what we could do and the EV gloves and the EV visor were the most capable of being taken out of storage and put on display for a brief period of time with the minimal amount of damage," she told collectSPACE.

posted 11-24-2012 02:52 PM            

Visiting the Smithsonian in 2005, in the Apollo gallery, both Armstrong and Aldrin's suits were on display, both with a legend saying these were the original suits worn on the moon. This was backed up by the guidebook at the time, and the National Air and Space Museum website.

However, the Smithsonian now say the very same suits were removed from display for preservation in 2001...

posted 11-24-2012 02:58 PM               

Both suits were on display on both occassions but the displays and placement of the suits had changed.

posted 11-24-2012 03:21 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Rick Mulheirn:
...this accounted for the difference in the appearance of the displays.

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The Buzz Aldrin suit was removed one week later [March 2005]. After restoration, estimated to take a couple of weeks, Young will place the suit on a new mannequin, and then back in Apollo to the Moon.

One aspect of the display will be changed, however. "The helmet and gloves will be placed on stands next to the suits," Young explained. "This will allow more air to circulate through the suits, which will be better for them in the long term."

The Armstrong and Cernan suits are next on Young's list.

posted 11-27-2012 05:09 PM            

The 2005 article clarifies a few things, but I still have some unanswered questions around the timings etc. of the removal of Armstrong's suit.

So, according to my images and their timestamps I visited the National Air and Space Museum on the 2nd September 2005, in the morning.

Columbia was devoid of a spacesuit, so this was after Mike Collin's suit had been removed and I do not have any images of Aldrin's suit, which I thought was there, but I wonder if it was still away for renovation. This would be much longer after the May removal than the anticipated "couple of weeks" but I'm sure I'd have grabbed a photo if it were there.

The display had also been changed from that in the guidebook (dated 2002) where both suits were present, as the flag was now behind the suit(s) and so did not reflect in the helmet visors any longer. However, the suit was still complete with gloves and helmet, rather than these being on adjacent stands as mentioned in the article regarding the return of Aldrin's suit.

Photos of the suit from my 2005 trip are here and here for reference, if it's helpful. (Excuse the quality; remember this was a 2005 point and shoot!) On close examination, this suit appears authentic, as even the patterns of discoloration/wear on the utility pocket of the upper left leg match with the museum's stock image
here. Even the small tufts of frayed thread just above the RH gauntlet match those in the stock image (around what I understand is the cover for the suit pressure guage?).

The legend in the case stated the suit was the original flight article, but this is somewhat at odds with the accounts here and elsewhere on the web, as the suit should have been long gone by then. I'm postulating whether the restoration of Aldrin's suit took longer than anticipated and I happened to pass through in the period between Aldrin's suit being returned and Armstrong's suit being removed.

posted 12-05-2012 05:18 PM            

Michael Collins's A7L Apollo 11 suit was removed from inside the Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia... That move took place in March 2005. About the same time, we removed Buzz Aldrin's spacesuit from display in the Apollo to the Moon gallery (gallery 210) for conservation work. It returned on display in that gallery in January 2006.

Yes, that is correct. The Neil Armstrong suit stayed on display until January 2006 when Buzz Aldrin’s suit was returned from conservation work.