|
Author
|
Topic: Alan Shepard's MR-3 flown personal items
|
Ken Havekotte
Member Posts: 2913
From: Merritt Island, Florida, Brevard
Registered: Mar 2001
|
posted 12-12-2007 10:15 PM
   
I was able to recently examine many of my original Mercury Redstone-3 paper files of NASA, military, and contractor releases along with press articles, notes, and clippings about America's first man into space. An interesting discovery was what Shepard said during an interview on May 8, 1961, in Washington, D.C. after his epic space feat only three days earlier. He was asked by a reporter, "There was a report before you left the carrier that you went back to the capsule and got out some personal belongings. Did you carry any personal belongings aside from your spacesuit, and if so, what were they?" America's first spaceman answered, "Actually I wanted to take that opportunity to go back and look inside the capsule. I didn't know whether I'd have a chance to see it again or not. I had my Naval Academy ring with me, that's all." Of course we later know that a large U.S. flag was flown aboard Freedom 7 that Shepard wasn't aware of until after the flight. Was that it — only his ring and an American flag? During my conversations and visits with Admiral Shepard, mostly throughout the 1990s here on Florida's Space Coast, that topic never came up, unfortunately. |
Lou Chinal
Member Posts: 1306
From: Staten Island, NY
Registered: Jun 2007
|
posted 12-13-2007 07:25 AM
From the photos I've seen he went back to get his helmet. You're right about the Naval Academy ring, it's talked about in the Sept. 1961 issue of National Geographic. I never heard about anything else. Do you know were the flag is today? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
|
posted 12-13-2007 07:32 AM
From the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation's timeline: 1995: The first U.S. flag flown in space, carried by astronaut Alan Shepard on his pioneering Freedom 7 Mercury flight, returns to space aboard NASA's 100th human space flight from KSC, shuttle mission STS-71, commanded by Robert "Hoot" Gibson. When it returns, Gibson and Shepard present the flag to the Astronaut Hall of Fame for display. |
Ken Havekotte
Member Posts: 2913
From: Merritt Island, Florida, Brevard
Registered: Mar 2001
|
posted 12-13-2007 08:13 AM
Yes, indeed, Shepard said he did go back to Freedom 7 while on the carrier to retrieve his helmet. Why, I am not really sure, but perhaps he felt it should remain with his Mercury spacesuit gear under proper or protective handling. As was said in the prior post, the Freedom 7 flag now has a permanent home at the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in Titusville, FL. How the flag was chosen to fly on the 100th U.S. manned spaceflight in 1995 is another story that I feel a close association with. |
R.Glueck
Member Posts: 115
From: Winterport, Maine, USA
Registered: Jul 2004
|
posted 12-16-2007 06:16 PM
Didn't some sailor absent mindedly toss the hatch or some other object from "Freedom 7" over the side of the ship? Wonder what that was and what disciplinary measures were taken?
|
poofacio
Member Posts: 268
From: United Kingdom
Registered: Oct 2006
|
posted 12-20-2007 06:07 PM
I have been told the early astronauts carried their Navy dog tags with them in case they were forced to land in hostile territory.Has anyone any info on this? |
spacecraft films
Member Posts: 802
From: Columbus, OH USA
Registered: Jun 2002
|
posted 12-20-2007 07:17 PM
There are a couple of different angles of Shepard going back and getting the helmet on our Mercury set (which is now back in stock) and on our individual Freedom 7 set. |
Larry McGlynn
Member Posts: 1255
From: Boston, MA
Registered: Jul 2003
|
posted 12-21-2007 07:46 AM
There is a popular lucite with a Randall knife inside with an inscription that reads it was from Shepard's Mercury flight.In checking with the Randall Knife Company in Orlando, Florida, they told me that those lucites were advertising displays placed in sporting goods stores around the country. While unflown, the lucite is a great piece of history. While I have a Randall replica of Grissom's Liberty Bell Seven knife, I wish I had one of the Randall lucites to go with it. I have a photograph of all seven Mercury Randall knives together and since they are handmade, they all are slightly different. They are a truly solid knife with a Micrata handle that withstood 38 years of immersion in salt water. Gus' is on display at the Kansas Cosmosphere and it looks great. I am told that Dr. William Douglas was the man who advised Gus to carry mementos with him on the flight. Dr. Douglas realized that Shepard had missed out on the opportunity of carrying mementos and encouraged Gus to do so. The astronauts and ground support crews soon caught up with that first omission. Finally, Randall stills offers an Astro knife for sale. The Astro Model 17 is in the catalog, but when I inquired into purchasing one, they advised me the next available completion date was 2011. No price was given. They have some other beautiful pieces though. |
Lou Chinal
Member Posts: 1306
From: Staten Island, NY
Registered: Jun 2007
|
posted 12-23-2007 03:23 PM
The lucite is only about 3" in diameter. The 'knife' about 1 3/4 - 2 inches long. Randall sold these after Shepard's flight as mementos. The 'real' knife that was flown is still in it's pouch on the side of the hatch at the bottom of the ocean.I never thought I would see Grissom's knife again but it's in the Cosmosphere. Glenn's is in the National Air and Space Museum. Deke's (with the orange handle) is in the Astronaut Hall of Fame. Cooper gave his back to 'Bo' Randall. Anybody know about Carpenter's and Schirra's? Larry, I'd like to see the photo of all seven that you have. As far as the story of the sailor tossing something over the side, I never heard anything about that. I also have an 'astronaut' model #17, that I got many years ago and carried in my flight bag. |
Larry McGlynn
Member Posts: 1255
From: Boston, MA
Registered: Jul 2003
|
posted 12-23-2007 09:29 PM
Here is a photo from the Randall website of the seven Mercury astronaut knives. They were all handmade and slightly unique. I also have attached a photograph of examples of Grissom's Randall knife, a Gemini survival knife from GT-9 and an Apollo survival machete from my collection.  |
John Youskauskas
Member Posts: 126
From:
Registered: Jan 2004
|
posted 12-24-2007 12:40 AM
According to the book "Randall Made Knives: The History Of The Man And The Blades," Scott Carpenter wrote to Bo Randall explaining that his knife was stowed in the survival kit and was stolen sometime between his exiting the spacecraft and it being returned to the mainland. He requested another knife from Randall with his name inscribed on it. Schirra stated in his book that he still had his #17 Astro at the time of the writing. The Randall book is on Amazon with the search feature, and devotes a whole chapter to this subject. Includes some great letters from the Mercury guys.
|
advertisement