Mercury astronaut Gordon Cooper tells: "When we were selected as astronauts in 1959, little effort was made to create a standard flying suit for us. Our classic photo in front of the F-106 jet shows how we had scrounged around to get flight equipment from the various armed services. The dark blue NASA flight suit was mainly a result of the publication of that one photograph."

This flight suit was acquried as surplus from NASA, "F. S. Musgrave" is hand written on the label on the inside seam of this deep blue suit.

Dr. Franklin Story Musgrave was selected as a scientist-astronaut by NASA in August 1967. He was the backup science-pilot for the first Skylab mission, was a mission specialist on STS-6, STS-51F, STS-33, STS-44, and STS-80, and was the payload commander on STS-61. Musgrave left NASA in August 1997 to pursue private interests.