Too old to dress up for halloween?

For fun, I went as Al Shepard to a costume party we attended last night... More specifically, Shepard during the crew's return from Apollo 14, Feb 1971. It was a fun excuse to spend time searching out the details of their return from Apollo 14, and have a good time recreating it as well as I could. The flight suit, and mission patch are somewhat authentically vintage.



Comparison to the Apollo 14 crew, at their arrival on the USS New Orleans, Feb 9th, 1971:





A fun detail that I included was a crude replica of the golf club that Al used on the lunar surface: A Wilson 6 Iron fitted to the end of the lunar contingency soil sampler. On Apollo missions, the contingency sampler was used to quickly take a soil sample of the lunar surface shortly after the astronauts landed in order to ensure that a sample would be returned with them in the case of an early abort from the mission. After the contingency sample was taken, Al attached a makeshift 6 Iron head that he carried in his pocket to hit a few golf balls for "miles and miles and miles," on the surface of the moon.



Unfortunately, one element that I didn't get right was the watch band. My Kizzi Precision long velcro Apollo era strap that I had on order didn't arrive in time, and missed the party by one day. So, I was forced to wear my Speedmaster on the JB champion. Although I wasn't able to find any photos of the watch and strap that Shepard may have been wearing on their return, I presume he would have had his Speedmaster on him, and most likely on the long velcro strap. As far as I know, Cernan on Apollo 17 was the only astronaut believed to wear a JB Champion on the surface of the moon, under his space suit. And of course, the watch reference isn't right, a pre-moon 145.022-69. But no one at the party needed to know that.



Hope everyone had a fun Halloween. Cheers.