Approach and Landing Test project medallion from NASA MFA Office

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This week’s artifact is a medallion and certificate that NASA’s Manned Flight Awareness Office issued to employees and contractors upon the successful conclusion of the space shuttle Approach and Landing Test (ALT) program in 1977.

These tests validated the aerodynamic characteristics of the space shuttle orbiter in a series of flights in conjunction with NASA’s Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA). The initial flights saw the prototype shuttle Enterprise carried on the SCA from takeoff to landing, but in the final five flights, Enterprise was released in mid-air to glide back to the runway at Edwards Air Force Base by herself.

The medallion itself is is 38 mm (1½″) across and made of very light metal; mostly aluminium I think. According to the text on the reverse, it contains metal taken from Enterprise—one source on the Internet states that the material was taken from the left wing.

 
The obverse bears a relief depiction of the ALT patch design. The reverse carries the message:

“Thank you for your contribution toward making the Approach and Landing Tests of the Space Shuttle Orbiter successful. We would like you to have this memento made, in part, of metal taken from the Enterprise.”

It also features facsimiles of the signatures of the four test pilots who flew Enterprise during the tests.

I obtained this medallion in its original plastic packaging and have removed it only to photograph. The relatively rough manufacture of the item is evident here.

The accompanying certificate measures 305 mm × 240 mm (12″ × 9½″) and is printed on card. It’s larger and printed on heavier stock than the Skylab and Apollo–Soyuz certificates in my collection.

It too carries a depiction of the program patch, along with a silhouette of the Enterprise separating from the SCA. As depicted, Enterprise is flying without her tailcone, the configuration used in the final two flights of the program. There’s space for the name of the recipient (which I've blurred out here for their privacy), a message of thanks, and facsimiles of the crew signatures.

The message reads:

“The crews of the Approach and Landing Test Program are pleased to present you with this medallion in appreciation of your contribution to the successful ALT flights of the space shuttle orbiter Enterprise”

At the bottom is a circle the size of the medallion, together with a printed version of the reverse of the medallion, in case the recipient wanted to affix theirs to the certificate itself.


The ALT program was important in ensuring that the space shuttle flew as well in practice as it did on paper, and turned theory into practice. With the program a resounding success, Enterprise moved to the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsvile for vibration tests as work continued on preparing the space shuttle for service.

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Copyright information: the medallion and certificate are works of NASA. As works of the United States federal government, they are in the public domain.

Apollo-Soyuz Test Project medallion from NASA MFA Office

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The collecting of memorabilia of any kind—whether it be movie memorabilia, sporting memorabilia, or spaceflight memorabilia—is essentially an exercise in fetishism: the relics in our collections provide us with tangible links to intangible moments and events in space and time. It is therefore not surprising that in the hierarchy of desirability of space relics, items that have actually flown in space are more highly sought-after than those that have not.¹ These “flown” items take us places where most of us can’t go and times when none of us can.

A few weeks ago, I blogged here about an example of a certificate that NASA’s Manned Flight Awareness Office (MFA—later renamed Spaceflight Awareness Office, SFA) awarded to employees and contractors. This week’s artifact is from the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project, a goodwill mission carried out jointly by the United States and Soviet Union in July 1975. It too is an award, but goes one better. As well as the certificate itself, the employee or contractor received a medallion made, in part, from metal that had flown on the mission:

The medallion is 38 mm (1½”) across and made of very light metal; mostly aluminium I think. According to the text on the reverse, it contains metal from both the American Apollo and the Soviet Soyuz spacecraft that participated in the mission. I find that idea quite appealing: some small part of these historic craft now forever intermingled and inseparable. In the photos, the roughness of its manufacture is obvious, and this is an example that was still in its original packaging when it came into my collection!

The practise of issuing such medallions began with Apollo 8 in 1969, to commemorate the first time human beings had flown to the moon and back. Many early examples (including this one) were manufactured for NASA by the now-defunct Barco Mint of New Orleans. Altogether, the MFA and SFA have issued 15 such medallions, the most recent being for Space Shuttle flight STS-114 in 2005, to commemorate the program’s safe return to operations after the Columbia accident.

Like many of the MFA medallions, this one was issued with a certificate that included a place where the medallion could be glued. My example was originally presented to an employee of the Rockwell International corporation (today part of Boeing)—Rockwell built the docking module that allowed the dissimilar spacecraft to link up. I’ve obscured the employee’s name here for their privacy.

The certificate includes text in both English and Russian, and bears facsimiles of the signatures of the three American astronauts and two Soviet cosmonauts who flew on the mission. It also bears the two different mission insignia developed for the mission (top and bottom right), and also an unofficial, cartoon insignia (lower left).

This emblem features caricatures of the two spacecraft docked, the Soyuz being ridden by a cartoon bear, the Apollo being ridden by Snoopy, of Peanuts fame. Snoopy says “Right on!” and the Russian bear says “Поехали!” (“Poyekhali” — “Let’s go!”)² Snoopy became an official mascot of the US space program in 1968, specifically in connection with flight safety, and the bear has long been a symbol of Russia.

Footnotes:
¹Items that have flown to the moon are generally more highly prized than items that have only flown in Earth orbit; and items used on the surface of the moon are most highly prized of all.
 ²Yuri Gagarin exclaimed “Поехали!” as he was launched on Vostok 1 on 12 April 1961 at the start of his flight to become the first person in space.

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Copyright information: The medal, certificate design, and official emblems are all works by NASA, and as works of the US federal government are in the public domain. However, copyright to Snoopy’s likeness that appears on the cartoon emblem belonged originally to United Feature Syndicate and today to Peanuts Worldwide LLC. Reproduction here is for educational purposes only.

Skylab 4 certificate from NASA MFA Office

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I work for a large organisation that regularly hands out awards of various kinds to recognise excellence or to celebrate particular milestones. I therefore feel some kind of camaraderie with the recipient of this award, although I never knew them personally.

These certificates were printed for employees of NASA and its contractors to commemorate the success of Skylab 4 — the third and final mission to take a crew to the space station.

Printed on US letter-size paper, it displays the insignia of the Skylab program, plus mission insignias for all three Skylab crews (with Skylab 4’s the largest). The employee’s name is printed below (blurred out here for their privacy), together with a short message of appreciation, and facsimiles of the signatures of the three astronauts who flew the mission: Jerry Carr, Ed Gibson, and Bill Pogue.

This is an ordinary piece of paper made extraordinary by its association with an extraordinary achievement. Skylab 4 put a crew of three astronauts on a space station for 84 days of scientific research and returned them safely to Earth.

I sometimes wonder whether any of the ephemera from our office will one day be collectable to someone!

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Copyright information: this certificate was issued by NASA’s Manned Spaceflight Awareness Office. As a work of the US federal government, it is in the public domain.

Skylab 2 parasol sample from NASA MFA office

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Here’s a tiny snippet of material used to solve a serious engineering problem in space. 

The Skylab 1 mission¹ was the launch of America’s first space station. It was carried into orbit—without a crew—by a Saturn V rocket that the cancellation of the last few Apollo moon missions had left surplus. Skylab 2 was to launch one day later and carry the first astronauts to the station for a 28-day visit.

However, during the launch of the station on 14 May 1973, it became apparent that something had gone badly wrong. Engineers deduced that during launch, Skylab had lost its meteroid shield—the tube-like structure that encircled the main body of the station to protect it from debris and from the Sun’s heat. Without this protection, the temperature inside Skylab soon reached 38° C and was expected to go as high as 77° C.

The launch of Skylab 2 was postponed while equipment and procedures were developed to repair the station. A key feature of these repair efforts was a “parasol” that the astronauts could deploy through one of Skylab's airlocks and which would provide the station with protection from the Sun. The parasol fabric was orange nylon laminated to aluminized Mylar, manufactured for NASA by the G. T. Schjeldahl Company² (today simply Sheldal) of Northfield, Minnesota.

The Skylab 2 crew launched on 25 May and successfully deployed the parasol the following day. Within a few days, the interior temperature stabilised at 26° C, making the station habitable and ensuring the safety of the supplies and experiments aboard.

To celebrate the success of the efforts, NASA’s Manned Flight Awareness Office issued laminated cards to employees that contained a small swatch of the parasol material (roughly 1 cm, or ½”, along each edge). The swatch was mounted on an image of Skylab taken by the Skylab 2 crew as they departed the station (NASA image 73-H-580), and clearly shows the parasol deployed. The card also bore the employee’s name (which I've blurred out here for their privacy), a message of congratulations, and facsimiles of the autographs of the nine Skylab astronauts.

The back of the card features another view of Skylab with the parasol in place (NASA image 73-H-578)—also taken by the departing Skylab 2 crew—overlaid with small portraits of all nine astronauts.

Footnotes:
¹ Skylab mission numbering is a little problematic. In this post, I’m following the scheme preferred by NASA headquarters—Skylab 1 was the launch of the station, followed by Skylab 2, 3, and 4, each of which took a crew of three astronauts up to it. Skylab Program management used a different scheme: they didn’t number the station launch, and used Skylab 1, 2, and 3 to refer to the three flights with a crew. Note that the front of this card uses this latter scheme.
² Wikipedia informs me that company founder Gilmore T. Schjeldahl (1 June 1912 – 10 March 2002) ‘may be best known for inventing the plastic-lined airsickness bag’.

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Copyright information: the Skylab photos, astronaut portraits, and card design and text are all works of NASA. As works of the US federal government, all are in the public domain.