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Author
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Topic: Al Rochford, NASA spacesuit tech (1937-2025)
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Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 55160
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 08-24-2025 06:05 PM
   
Alan "Al" M. Rochford, who joined NASA in 1960 and served as a suit tech through 1997, has died. He was 88.Rochford's death on Saturday, Aug. 23, 2025, was shared by his daughter in a public post on Facebook: My Father passed away. My heart is broken. Please keep us in your prayers as we navigate through this. We will post service details when we can. Originally reporting to Langley Research Center in Virginia in November 1960, Rochford worked at the Cape in Florida and then the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston. Together with fellow suit tech Joe Schmitt, Rochford oversaw the equipment preparation, fitting and suiting up of Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab and space shuttle astronauts for launch. The last mission he worked was STS-87.  Above: In 1963, crew systems tech Al Rochford assists Mercury astronaut Gordon Cooper in checking his life vest stowed in a pocket in the lower left leg.
In 1998, Rochford took part in a NASA oral history interview, during which he recalled a moment from his career that particularly stood out. He spoke about the lead up to Apollo 14 in 1971. I remember reading, Al Shepard was talking about practicing with his golf club, you know, and nobody really knew he was going to do that, but one day when we were at the Cape, he asked me to come back into the suit room, that he wanted to try something. I can't remember whether this was at the end of the day or like that. There weren't any people around. We went back, and he asked me to pressurize his suit in the suit room, he wanted to practice something. Lo and behold, here he had this golf club, which was an extension of a tool that he had, and he was practicing. We pressurized him, and he was practicing his swing at that time. I remember that vividly. We had good times with the crew. We worked close with the crew, developed, like I say, a good rapport with the crew. Another moment from Rochford's career, working with Schmitt to suit up Gemini 3 crewmates John Young and Gus Grissom, was captured by artist Norman Rockwell in a painting titled "The Longest Step." |
Jeff
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posted 08-24-2025 06:25 PM
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GACspaceguy
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posted 08-24-2025 06:59 PM
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