Mercury Space Flight Artifacts

13 responses to “Mercury Space Flight Artifacts”

1. 

   jurvetson

   Oct 12, 2011 at 4:14 am

   Signed "Flown on Faith 7 Gordon Cooper" in blue ink
   
   6"x7"x1" and inside the flap there is a manuscript marking in green ink: "MSC 0691" and there is a small white sticker on the bottom of the pouch that reads: "GC-90-34.”

   On the MA-9 flight, the spacesuit was modified from earlier versions; the life vest relocated from the center of the chest to a pocket on the lower left leg. This modification removed the bulkiness from the front of the suit and provided for more comfort during the flight.

   The 35" x 3" banner pulled straight:
   
   The tag has serial number 52C1543-36 printed on the reverse.

   Gordon Cooper found a red tag like this attached to a toilet plunger inside the Faith 7 capsule on launch day as a joke by Alan Shepherd. It was a reference to the introduction of a new urine collection system that Shepherd did not have on his earlier Mercury flight (forcing him to relieve himself during a long countdown hold).

   Cooper during the MA-9 flight, a small space in space for 34 hours:
   
   "on the next pass, when Cooper lost all attitude readings. Then, on the twenty-first orbit, a short-circuit occurred in a busbar serving the 250-volt main inverter, leaving the automatic stabilization and control system without electric power… Cooper remained cool, if not calm, now that his alertness had been stimulated by a medically prescribed pill of dextroamphetamine."

   Other Mercury artifacts on display here: LR101 Motor, a connector cable bundle from MR-1 (the first attempted Mercury flight), and a T-Valve from Liberty Bell 7, recovered by submarine from the bottom of the Atlantic.

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2. 

   jhagerty52

   Oct 12, 2011 at 6:03 am

   I saw Grissom’s "Liberty Bell 7" when it was at the Chabot Science center about 10 years ago. I was surprised at some of the materials used. The seat harnesses were leather. Also, in the survival kit, the waterproof match container was a straight Boy Scout issue, exactly like the one in my camping belt! It had the fleur-de-lis and everything.

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3. 

   Todd Baker

   Oct 12, 2011 at 11:02 am

   Pretty cool that part of a cow went to space.

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4. 

   jurvetson

   Oct 12, 2011 at 3:32 pm

   Come to think of it, someone must have been tempted to have one jump over the moon.

   First this leather swatch, then Jim Young smuggling a corned beef sandwich onto the first Gemini flight GT-3… quite the buildup of excitement for the bovine community…

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5. 

   solerena

   Oct 12, 2011 at 5:27 pm

   nice spacesuit "Flown on Faith" pocket:)

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6. 

   jurvetson

   Oct 12, 2011 at 7:31 pm

   You gotta have faith…

   Just learned that one of the items that Cooper flew in his pocket was a 1917 two dollar bill.

   And this is the letter that came with the Thruster Plug

   

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7. 

   solerena

   Oct 12, 2011 at 10:44 pm

   yes, You gotta have faith…xx

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8. 

   JeffSech

   Oct 16, 2011 at 6:58 am

   What? No (or limited) velcro post Apollo 1? Did not know that…was it deemed a fire hazard?

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9. 

   jurvetson

   Nov 6, 2011 at 7:39 pm

   Yeah, from the Webb report:

   "Tests conducted in an Apollo – type chamber since the accident have shown that an oxygen fire in the capsule will spread along the surface of Velcro and along the edges of nylon netting much faster than through the material itself."

   and from wikipedia:

   "The NASA crew systems department had installed 34 square feet (3.2 m2) of Velcro throughout the spacecraft, almost like carpeting. This Velcro was found to be flammable in a high-pressure 100% oxygen environment.

   In a spacecraft review meeting held with Shea on August 19, 1966 (a week before delivery), the crew expressed concern about the amount of flammable material (mainly nylon netting and Velcro) in the cabin, which the technicians found convenient for holding tools and equipment in place. Though Shea gave the spacecraft a passing grade, after the meeting they gave him a crew portrait they had posed with heads bowed and hands clasped in prayer, with the inscription:

   ‘It isn’t that we don’t trust you, Joe, but this time we’ve decided to go over your head.’

   

   Shea gave his staff orders to tell North American to remove the flammables from the cabin, but did not supervise the issue personally.

   Buzz Aldrin states in his book Men From Earth that the flammable material had been removed (per the crew’s August 19 complaints and Joseph Shea’s order), but was replaced prior to the August 26 delivery to Cape Kennedy."

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10. 

    JeffSech

    Nov 13, 2011 at 8:23 am

    Good Lord, that’s a sobering photo. Per Murray/Cox’s book I know that Shea was a brilliant and complex man, and I’m not about to judge him in hindsight. It remains staggering that such a program with so many dynamic elements, both technical and human, managed to self-correct so well. (Alas, at such a cost.)

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11. 

    jurvetson

    Nov 25, 2011 at 11:50 pm

    Yes… and with 400,000 people involved…

    P.S. Regarding the thruster plug’s former owner at NASA, I just read about Ed’s role in Apollo in How Apollo Flew to the Moon, 2011, p.174

    ”Ed Pavelka was one of the flight controllers who occupied the FIDO console in The Trench at mission control. As a way to cement the esprit de corps among the flight dynamics team, he invented a fictional character called Captain REFSMMAT (acronym for REFerence to a Stable Member MATrix) who represented the ideal flight controller. Urged on by Gene Krantz, Pavelka imagined a figure of military stature with a radar in his helmet, and drew a series of posters depicting Captain REFSMMAT and his arch enemy, Victor Vector. During the Apollo years, people in the MOCR scribbled little comments on these posters, often sarcastic, to let off a little steam.”

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12. 

    jurvetson

    May 27, 2013 at 9:22 pm

    Update: I just acquired a cool photo of Gordie in his shiny suit, and you can see the velcro attach patch on the right thigh:

    
    Inscribed: “Gordon Cooper, Faith 7, May 1963.”

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13. 

    jurvetson

    May 31, 2016 at 8:01 pm

    and a compete unflown suit:

    Reply