Helmet For Sale

I hope everyone in Europe and within its footprint was able to enjoy the lunar eclipse. In Hawaii and the Pacific Rim we saw a red full Moon rise just after sunset. Only 12 people have walked on the Moon, and none since 1972. Many of us have never enjoyed the experience of even watching it on live TV. If plans succeed to return by 2020, the gap will be nearly a half century.

You have 2 more days to bid on eBay item #3300933083739, L. Gordon Cooper's Mercury flight helmet. On May 15-16, 1963 Cooper and this helmet orbited Earth 22 times, the last American to orbit alone. The owner originally bought it at a low price, when it was thought to be Cooper's training helmet. There are bargains to be found on eBay! According to the smiling Richard Branson in TIME, for a lesser amount Virgin Galactic will take you into Space for real.

The Mercury spacesuit was actually the US Navy's Mark V high-altitude pressure suit, developed by B. F. Goodrich for fighter aircraft. Many modifications were made during the Mercury program. The suits were never called to protect their wearers from Space, since no Mercury spacecraft lost pressure during flight. The suit nearly sank Gus Grissom, who was forced to exit from his spacecraft into the Pacific. The silver-suited Mercury astronaut was immortalised in television and movies from THE RIGHT STUFF to THE ASTRONAUT FARMER, our version of the knight in shining armour.

Thank you Brickmuppet, for enjoying the Saturn posts. This blog will try to spotlight both human and robotic Space exploration. Goals of science should be to benefit humans and life on Earth. Presently I spend the day working on a technology that even Sir Richard hasn't imagined yet. It will make human spaceflight safer, more comfortable and far more affordable. There is room in Space for both humans and droids.