Visitors looking at Project Mercury Capsule, National Air Museum
Author:
Unknown
Subject:
National Air Museum (U.S.)
National Air and Space Museum
McDonnell Aircraft Company
Project Mercury (U.S.)
South Yard
Physical description:
Color: Black and White; Size: 8w x 10h; Type of Image: Exhibit; Medium: Photographic print
Type:
Photographic print
Exhibit
Date:
1961
Topic:
Mercury Capsule
Models and modelmaking
Space vehicles
Museum visitors
Exhibitions
Quonset Hut
Children
Standard number:
2002-12191
Restrictions:
For permission to reproduce or publish, contact osiaref@si.edu or call 202-633-5870. To order reproductions, call 202-633-1933 or contact photos@si.edu
Category:
Historic Images of the Smithsonian
Notes:
Original negative number is 47800, but that negative has been lost
Summary:
Two young visitors looking at a model of the Mercury Capsule on display in the National Air Museum, now the National Air and Space Museum. The model was given to the Museum on March 29, 1961 because of the great public interest in the Mercury Space Program. The 1/3 scale model of the Mercury Capsule is completely equipped with escape tower, retro-rockets, interior fittings, and a model of an astronaut. The display was built and given to the Museum by the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation of St. Louis, the prime contractors for the capsules for the Mercury Project
Medal, Commemorative, Project Mercury, Vienna Mint
Manufacturer:
Vienna Mint
Materials:
Silver
Type:
MEMORABILIA-Events
Country of Origin:
Austria
Credit Line:
Gift of Thomas Becker
Inventory Number:
A19731520000
Rights:
Do not reproduce without permission from the Smithsonian Institution, National Air and Space Museum
Summary:
This Project Mercury commemorative medal was struck by the Vienna Mint. Project Mercury was NASA's first human spaceflight program. Alan Shepard, Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, John Glenn, and M. Scott Carpenter were the first four astronauts to fly in the program. Alan Shepard was the first American in space in a suborbital flight in May 1961, and Gus Grissom was the second in another suborbital flight in July 1961. John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth in February 1962, and Scott Carpenter was the second in May 1962.
Space medal collector Thomas Becker donated this medal to the National Collectioin in 1972.
Certified plate proofs are the last printed proof of the plate before printing the stamps at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. These plate proofs are each unique, with the approval signatures and date. For postal scholars these plates provide important production information in the plate margin inscriptions, including guidelines, plate numbers, and initials of the siderographer, or person who created the plate from a transfer roll.
Plate No.27065
Denomination: 4c
Subject: "Friendship 7" Capsule and Globe, Project Mercury Issue
Certified plate proofs are the last printed proof of the plate before printing the stamps at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. These plate proofs are each unique, with the approval signatures and date. For postal scholars these plates provide important production information in the plate margin inscriptions, including guidelines, plate numbers, and initials of the siderographer, or person who created the plate from a transfer roll.
Plate No.27608
Denomination: 4c
Subject: "Friendship 7" Capsule and Globe, Project Mercury Issue
Color: Black and White; Size: 8w x 10h; Type of Image: Interior; Person, candid; Medium: Photographic print
Type:
Photographic print
Interior
Person, candid
Topic:
Astronautics
Space vehicles
Freedom 7
Quonset Hut
Exhibitions
Astronauts
Standard number:
2003-19533 or A-48770
Restrictions:
For permission to reproduce or publish, contact osiaref@si.edu or call 202-633-5870. To order reproductions, call 202-633-1933 or contact photos@si.edu
Category:
Historic Images of the Smithsonian
Summary:
Alan B. Shepard, Jr., peers into the window of the Mercury "'Freedom 7"' spacecraft which he flew on May 5, 1961. The spacecraft was presented to the Smithsonian on October 23, 1961, and placed on display in the Quonset Hut or Air Museum Building of the National Air and Space Museum in the South Yard
Color: Black and White; Size: 10w x 8h; Type of Image: Exhibit; Medium: Photographic print
Type:
Photographic print
Exhibit
Date:
late 1960s - c. 1975
Topic:
Quonset Hut
Museum visitors
Exhibitions
Friendship 7
Space vehicles
Standard number:
82-3306
Restrictions:
For permission to reproduce or publish, contact osiaref@si.edu or call 202-633-5870. To order reproductions, call 202-633-1933 or contact photos@si.edu
Category:
Historic Images of the Smithsonian
Summary:
Visitors viewing "Friendship 7" in the Quonset Hut of the National Air and Space Museum in the South Yard. "Friendship 7" is the Mercury spacecraft in which astronaut John H. Glenn, Jr., became the first American to orbit the Earth. On February 20, 1962, Glenn circled the Earth three times. The space flight lasted 4 hours and 55 minutes, and "Friendship 7" landed in the Atlantic Ocean
Color: Black and White; Size: 10w x 8h; Type of Image: Group, candid; Medium: Photographic print
Type:
Photographic print
Group, candid
Date:
1987
Topic:
Celebrities and Dignitaries
Space vehicles
News conferences
Astronauts
Politicians
Museum directors
Standard number:
87-2326-7
Restrictions:
For permission to reproduce or publish, contact osiaref@si.edu or call 202-633-5870. To order reproductions, call 202-633-1933 or contact photos@si.edu
Category:
Historic Images of the Smithsonian
Notes:
Featured in "The Torch," April 1987
Summary:
Senator John Glenn held a news conference at the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) 19 February 1987 in honor of the 25th anniversary of his orbit around the earth in the Mercury Friendship 7 spacecraft. This photo shows Glenn standing with NASM Acting Director James Tyler (l.) in front of the spacecraft
Betty Skelton Frankman (b. 1926) soloed in an airplane at age 12. She has then gone on to hold more combined aviation and automotive records than anyone else in history. From 1948 to 1950 Ms. Skelton won three International Feminine Aerobatic Championships in her open-cockpit biplane, the Pitts Special Little Stinker, which is now part of the National Air and Space Museum Collection. In 1949 and 1951 Skelton also set the world light-plane altitude record. After her retirement from aviation, she worked with Chevrolet on the development of the Corvette. Skelton established records for Chevrolet behind the wheel of the Corvette and appeared at major auto shows, as well as in national ads and TV commercials. Among her automotive firsts, Skelton set the world land speed record for women four times, was the first woman to drive a jet car over 300 miles per hour, the first woman to drive an Indy 500 race car, and the first woman to become a test driver for the auto industry. In 1959, Skelton trained and tested with the original Mercury astronauts, although women were eventually dropped from the program
Summary:
Currently, this collection consists of four scrapbooks containing both photographs and newspaper clippings, and four document boxes of newspaper and magazine clippings chronicling her career. There are also a few oversized magazines, either containing articles about Skelton or showing advertisements in which she was featured
Cite as:
Betty Skelton Collection, Acc. 2002-0002, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution
Mercury Project, Astronauts, Training; Shepard, Alan B., Jr.; Grissom, Virgil Ivan "Gus"; Cooper, Leroy Gordon, Jr; Schirra, Walter Marty, Jr "Wally"; Slayton, Donald Kent "Deke"; Glenn, John H.; Carpenter, M. Scott; Clothing, Space Suits, Mercury, Navy Mark IV. [photograph]
Photographer:
NASA
Type:
Photographs
Date:
4/16/1961
Topic:
Astronautics
Space flight
Local number:
1999-0070_97-15162
Summary:
The "Mercury 7" astronauts in Mercury space suits during training at NASA Langley Research Center, Viriginia, left to right, back row: Alan Shepard, Virgil "Gus" Grissom and L. Gordon Cooper and front row: Walter Schirra, Donald "Deke" Slayton, John Glenn and Scott Carpenter. All are wearing Mercury space suits (modified Navy Mk.IV pressure suits). Photo released July 16, 1961
Color: Black and White; Size: 8w x 10h; Type of Image: Event; Group, candid; Medium: Photographic print
Type:
Photographic print
Group, candid
Topic:
Friendship 7
Space vehicles
Astronautics
Astronauts
Museum directors
Regents
Secretaries
Gifts
Event
Standard number:
2003-19532
Restrictions:
For permission to reproduce or publish, contact osiaref@si.edu or call 202-633-5870. To order reproductions, call 202-633-1933 or contact photos@si.edu
Category:
Historic Images of the Smithsonian
Summary:
In the Arts and Industries Building, February 20, 1963, Smithsonian Secretary Leonard Carmichael speaking at the presentation of the "Friendship 7" spacecraft which is in the foreground. The men seated behind Secretary Carmichael are (left to right): Senator Clinton P. Anderson, member of the Smithsonian Board of Regents and member of the Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences; Honorable James E. Webb, Administrator of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); Dr. Hugh L. Dryden, Deputy Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); Astronaut John H. Glenn, Jr.; and Philip S. Hopkins, Director of the National Air Museum, now the National Air and Space Museum
Bellcomm, Inc. Technical Reports Library, 1947-1980 (bulk 1960-1973)
Creator:
Bellcomm, Inc
Subject:
Project Mercury (U.S.)
Project Gemini (U.S.)
Project Surveyor (U.S.)
California Institute of Technology Jet Propulsion Lab
Bellcomm, Inc
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
American Telephone and Telegraph Company
Physical description:
81.71 cubic feet (222 letter document boxes) (1 slim letter document box) (4 flatboxes)
Type:
Photographs
Collection descriptions
Publications
Reports
Date:
1947
1947-1980
bulk 1960-1973
Topic:
Astronautics
Local number:
XXXX-0093
Notes:
Bellcomm, Inc. was a subsidiary of AT&T which was organized to assist the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Office of Manned Space Flight Systems Office in the overall integration of the Apollo spacecraft; Bellcomm was directly responsible for systems engineering and analysis. The company folded in 1972 with the end of the Apollo program
Summary:
This collection contains the non-book portion of Bellcomm's Technical Library. The material in the collection consists of technical reports prepared by NASA subcontractors and/or NASA facilities during the first decade of space exploration (1960-1970). The reports cover a variety of space exploration-related subjects, including a number of defunct programs and space medicine concerns, as well as the better-known exploration projects, such as Mercury, Gemini, Surveyor, and so forth. The library also includes some reports issued by the California Institute of Technology's Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) at Pasadena, CA, including Space Program and Research Summaries, as well as technical and engineering documents
Transferred from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Inventory Number:
A19680571000
Rights:
Do not reproduce without permission from the Smithsonian Institution, National Air and Space Museum
Summary:
Mercury capsule #19 was one of twenty spacecraft built for the first American human spaceflight project, which aimed to put a man in orbit. Sent to the launch site, Cape Canaveral, on March 20, 1962, it became the back-up spacecraft for the Mercury-Atlas flight (MA-8) of Walter M. Schirra, who made 6 orbits of the Earth on October 3, 1962. Thereafter the mission for #19 was canceled and parts were used on other Mercury projects. In early 1968, NASA Manned Spacecraft Center (now Johnson Space Center) gave this vehicle to the Smithsonian.
Transferred from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Inventory Number:
A19680570000
Rights:
Do not reproduce without permission from the Smithsonian Institution, National Air and Space Museum
Summary:
Mercury capsule #17 was the seventheenth of twenty spacecraft built for the first American human spaceflight project, which aimed to put a man in orbit. Between 1961 and 1963, six Mercury astronauts were launched on suborbital and orbital missions. Capsule #17 was sent to Cape Canaveral on April 18, 1963, as a possible source of spare parts for Gordon Cooper's Faith 7 spacecraft (#20), which was launched on the Mercury-Atlas 9 (MA-9) thirty-four hour orbital mission in May. Spacecraft #17 was also held in reserve for a second long-duration mission, MA-10, which was not flown.
In early 1968, NASA Manned Spacecraft Center (now Johnson Space Center) gave this capsule to the Smithsonian.
Transferred from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Inventory Number:
A19770586000
Rights:
Do not reproduce without permission from the Smithsonian Institution, National Air and Space Museum
Summary:
This seawater desalter kit is an example of the survival equipment used during Project Mercury, the first U.S. human spaceflight program. Between 1961 and 1963, six Mercury astronauts were launched in one-man capsules, two on suborbital trajectories and four into orbit. At the conclusion of their missions, their capsules parachuted into the ocean and they and their spacecraft were recoverd by U.S. Navy ships and helicopters. Astronauts also had to be prepared to make emergency landings all around the world, so they were equipped with survival aids in case it took recovery forces a long time to reach them. With this desalter kit, it was possible to convert seawater into drinkable water.
This item was probably not flown on a mission. In 1973 NASA transferred ownership to the Smithsonian.
Transferred from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Inventory Number:
A19680280000
Rights:
Do not reproduce without permission from the Smithsonian Institution, National Air and Space Museum
Summary:
Prior to the flights of astronauts in Project Mercury, the first U.S. human spaceflight program, chimpanzees were used to better understand the effects of acceleration and weightlessness. Instead of a spacesuit, these chimps had a pressurized capsule that allowed them to breathe even in case of a failure of spacecraft cabin pressure. The chimp was strapped into a retaining harness inside the capsule and had to operate a system of levers and lights to test its reactions to flight. It was rewarded with banana pellets or a drink of water, or punished with mild electrical shocks, for taking the right or wrong actions.
Chimps were launched into space twice: "Ham" on Mercury-Redstone 2 in January 1961, and "Enos" on Mercury-Atlas 5 in November 1961. In 1967 the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston transferred this capsule, serial number 6, to the Smithsonian. It is unknown whether it was used on a mission.
