Less Known facts about the Astronauts and Space Program

When in 1957, 3 weeks after the launch of Sputnik, NACA engineer Maxim Faget gave his briefing on manned orbital spaceflight, engineers had estimated the G-force during re-entry to be 9 Gs. However, Faget took some emergencies into account and he knew the results of German Luftwaffe pilots, who during centrifuge tests at the end of World War II, had coped with forces up to 17 Gs staying conscies during two minutes.
Max Faget also came up with the idea of custom-moulded contour couches for future astronauts. These were built by Jack Heberlig, who even made one for a pig to be used during splash-down tests.
By July 30, 1958 Max Faget had pushed Lt Carter Collins to undergo 12 Gs to 20 Gs in the centrifuge at Johnsville in Warminster Pennsylvania.
It was just the beginning of Medical & Psychiatric staff performing gruelling tests on the first two groups of Astronaut Candidates ...

What's up with Buzz Aldrin in various video clips saying we never went to the moon, especially since India took satellite images of the stranded lunar modules?
Does Buzz have dementia or something?

I saw that too.
Yes, actually I have, there are several of him stating this. I think Buzz may be buzzed or something?
They definitely didn't look AI generated either, look on YouTube for them, tell me what you think.

Discomform of (early) space suits !
1960... It took more than a year before the "Mercury 7" astronauts saw the first "operational research" prototype pressure suits produced by B.F. Goodrich of Akron Ohio. The pressure suit for Project Mercury was based on the US Navy Mark IV pilot suit.
These were not only uncomfortable because of the materials used (e.g. aluminium-coated nylon felt like living in a pneumatic tyre) but also because of the underwear, zippers, straps, valves, ECG biomedical cables and a rectal thermometer.
1960, March 17 was the date when the "Mercury 7" posed in their bespoke "silver" pressure suits but these suits underwent constant refinements, "More altered than a Bridal gown" said Wally Schirra, to cope with stretching and temperature, resulting in the best version for Gordo Cooper in May 1963 !
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2025 saw the 60th anniversary of the Gemini space program...
In 1961, NASA awarded the construction of the two men "Gemini" spacecraft to the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation in in St. Louis Missouri, a firm which had also built the "Mercury" spacecraft.
Spaceflight aficionados know the spacewalk images of Edward White, Eugene Cernan and Edwin Aldrin exiting the spacecraft via an opened hatch/door of the Gemini spacecraft.
However, there're photos of Virgil "Gus" Grissom, who was follow-up astronaut for the project, testing a circular hatch in the starboard door of the spacecraft. Fellow astronauts dubbed the spacecraft "Gus mobile" and joked it might be too small because he wasn't a tall guy...
Besides testing orbital maneuvers, rendez-vous and spacewalks, the spacecraft was also intended to dock with the MOL - Manned Orbiting Laboratory in Low Earth Orbit. Amazingly this required a circular hatch through the heatshield at the rear of the spacecraft.
The Gemini B spacecraft and the MOL project were cancelled in June 1969 and the military pilots went to NASA, going to form the core of early space shuttle pilots!
In 1966, NASA considere sending the Gemini XII mission to the Moon, counting on the gravity slingshot effect to bring the spacecraft back to Earth for re-entry !
(Photos: NASA/USAF)
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Some of the NASA astronauts were real petrol heads, to such an extend that NASA issued a strict ban on any of them taking part in auto racing. In this way, Grissom, Cooper and Schirra were only allowed to participate in pre-race ceremonies like the opening parade lap of the Indy-500!
Three of the original "Mercury 7" bought an Omega Speedmaster chronograph early because of its auto-racing heritage, especially Walter Schirra enjoyed sports cars, Austin Healy roadster, Chevrolet Corvette, Maserati 3500 GT and Maserati Bora to name a few.
The NASA astronaut corps was a hyper-competitive fraternity as there was some rivalry between different astronaut groups (military versus civilian test pilots, fighter pilot versus scientist,...). Evidently this went as far to become "special" because one drove another car than the well-known Chevrolet Corvette (aka "AstroVette")... choosing for a Porsche 911 for instance.
(Photos: LIFE/NASA)
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Apollo 15 was the first mission carrying a Lunar Roving Vehicle, the first to launch a little satellite in lunar orbit, the first to conduct some general experiments for a worldwide public.
Here are two examples of artworks depicting the Apollo 15 "Moonwalkers" showing David Scott during the " Falcon & Hammer " gravity experiment and James Irwin, who was a devout Christian.
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From lunar orbit, Apollo 15 CMP Command Module Pilot Alfred Worden was specifically tasked to make clear photographs of certain geologically interesting looking areas. His photos would be used to determine future landing spots and some photos made it into the Apollo 17 LLM - Lunar Landmark Map which ws used during the very last Apollo mission in December 1972.
Moreover, a photo taken of a valley at the edge of of "Sea of Serenity" spotted by A15 CMP Alfred Worden made NASA choose that area as the Apollo 17 landing spot. The exact spot still didn't have a name so NASA came up with Taurus-Littrow after 19th century astronomer Johann von Littrow.
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The last three Apollo missions were designated "J-missions" with lots of scientific research, adding a LRV on each flight, even a geologist on Apollo 17. As Apollo 15 had set out a small satellite from lunar orbit, it gave geologist NASA astronaut Harrison Schmitt, nicknamed "Dr Rock", the idea of choosing a landing spot on the far side of the Moon, using a satellite for radio comms... the idea was not accepted.
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Wrist-watch-wise fun facts:
Did You know certain NASA astronauts had to wait almost 5 years before getting their hands on a NASA-issued Omega Speedmaster chronograph for training !
To celebrate 25 years of certain missions, Omega offered some astronauts ( & some cosmonauts) a special Gold wrist watch... these have been mentioned before at this forum 😉