[PAR35]

"the once not-for-profit Hall of Fame was taken over by Delaware North Park Services, which also has a contract with NASA to run the visitor center tourist attraction at Kennedy Space Center. "

[E. Pluribus Unum]

"It never was an issue until September of this year when Betty Grissom refused to sign a new loan agreement" with the museum, he said.

If it was government property, why would they need a loan agreement?

This episode once again proves that no good deed goes unpunished.

[TX Bluebonnet]

Do they still have the spacesuits of the other astronauts that were with him on Mercury 7 or were they destroyed? That would pretty much settle the issue in my mind.

[dead]

The suit belongs to whomever paid to build it.

(I'm betting it wasn't Betty Grissom.)

[mgstarr]

Rest in peace Gus.

[virgil]

Its interesting that after all this time Mrs. Grissom still has unanswered questions about the fire. Have you ever read the account of events that occurred leading up to the fire? Last I know, the account is on the NASA website. There is also a kind of failure analysis summary. Its very interesting. There were a lot of QC problems with the capsule...defects etc. Too many I think. Wasn't the command module/service module made by McDonnell-Douglas?

[Fiddlstix]

BTTT

[archy]

the once not-for-profit Hall of Fame was taken over by Delaware North Park Services, which also has a contract with NASA to run the visitor center tourist attraction at Kennedy Space Center. "

More on Delaware North, previously known as *Emprise*, and their interesting business practices, including the bombing murder of Phoenix investigative reporter Don Bolles *here.*

-archy-/-

[Lancey Howard]

How long before the shuttles have "NEXTEL" or "TACO BELL" painted across their sides?

[RIGHT IN SEATTLE]

.10 Shylock, (a lousy one at that),

could get the NASA suit,

"that didn't save his life!",

in a nanosecond!!!!!!!

[Slyfox]

...was taken over by Delaware North Park Services, which also has a contract with NASA to run the visitor center tourist attraction at Kennedy Space Center.

I remember going to the Johnson Space Center in, I think, 1975, when the probe had landed on Mars and was sending pictures back to Earth. Johnson had a relaxed atmosphere back then and I spent the whole day bumming around the place. They were showing the live feed from Mars in the auditorium. All of the diplays were like walking into a high school science classroom. I thought it was really neat. But, the most memorable thing for me was a display sitting on a table in the corner of an out-of-the-way-room which featured a posterboard version of something called a 'Space Shuttle'. It was just like a science fair project, complete with a hand-drawn picture of a 747 designed to piggyback it into the stratosphere.

Those scientist's patched together display's at NASA were much more interesting than the 'Disney-ized' setup.

[Search4Truth]

This is outrageous and disgraceful. Have these people no shame what-so-ever? Where has common human decency gone? This woman's husband made the ultimate sacrifice for his country. Could they at least make this gesture as a token of our countries gratitude. We, the tax payers, paid for the damn suit anyway. Give it to her for Christ's sake. Is this how we encourage the heroes of the future? I'm so mad I could spit.

Sure would like to know the names and the e-mail addys of those who made this stupid decision. A major Freep may be in order here. The slimy little bastads.

[petitfour]

I vaguely recall looking up info on that company once. There's something about it that bothered me, but I'd have to look it up again. Maybe it is a RAT-related company??????? Maybe not.

[kalee]

According to NASA, Gus Grissom borrowed the suit in the early 1960s and never returned it. His family said he took it because he had learned NASA planned to destroy it, a contention the space agency disputes.



Wouldn't the suit he was wearing at his death have been fire damaged? Is this one damaged? I don't mean to appear dense, but I'm not understanding this. How could he have taken it home with him and then died in it at Kennedy? There must have been two suits. A proto-type maybe?

[IndyTiger]

Betty Grissom has always had a prickly relationship with NASA, even before the 1967 fire that killed Gus. She wrote a book called Starfall in the '70s that was very critical of NASA. Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff has a chapter on the suborbital flight of Liberty Bell 7 that gives some good background on this as well.

IIRC, Liberty Bell 7 was raised from the Atlantic Ocean a couple of years ago, but the hatch could not be located.

[kalee]

ping