Mercury Astronauts with Astro

[samg]

While researching the Astro I found a picture of the Mercury astronauts in their desert training. Note the Astro strapped to the leg of Gus Grissom (sitting middle)and Alan Shepard (sitting right), you get a glimpse of the handle on the side of the astronaut sitting on the left.

















The following photo if of the door going on Alan Shepard's Mercury capsule.
So close to seeing his Randall taped to the inside of the hatch!



This photo is of the inside of a Mercury hatch. No slots, so more than likely the knife was taped on.

[samg]

Here is another with an Astro strapped to the side of Wally Schirra







The handle on this one almost looks like the one on Slaytons knife. Does it look like it has finger grips? It's hard to tell, but you can make out the canteen snap and the stone pouch on it.
What do you think?

Here is Slaytons knife

[samg]

Another Mercury training photo with the Astros



Gus Grissom with his strapped to his leg



Looks like John Glenn with his on his side



Gordon Cooper with his Astro. Taped instead of scales?

[crutchtip]

I believe that is a Model 15 Airman on Schirra's belt, not an Astro. You can clearly see the finger grips and thin hilt.

It would be interesting to know if those Astro's are their personal knives or NASA supplied Solingen blades. I am guessing the latter.

The orange handle coincides with a couple of very early 16's that have a similar handle, all made out of fiberglass. Obviously the orange gel coat was used for visibility.

[samg]

You might be right about that Joe. He was a pilot and possible that he had a 15. Not quite sure why he would be carrying it, as Cooper wanted the training Astros made quickly so they could test them in survival situations. More to the mystery.

[samg]

I have put the 2 knives together and now I'm not sure if it's a 15. Compare the distance between the bolts and notches, and also from the bolt to the edge of the hilt. Schirras seems to be a greater distance, an indication of an Astro hilt.
Also in the comparison, Schirras knife is more at an angle to the camera, whereas the 15 is flat. This angle difference makes Schirras points of distance appear shorter than they actually are.



Here it is with Slaytons handle. Hard to tell.

[crutchtip]

With lighting and blowing the photos up probably adds a bit of distortion to how it is perceived, but the view of Wally's knife is more from the bottom. No question in my mind.

Model 15 all the way! remember, these guys were pilots before they were astronauts.

Wally's knife has a thong, so it definitely is not the orange fiberglass

[samg]

After researching this photo further, it was taken with the gemini crew. Cool to know Schirra had a model 15 as well.

[cut_n_run]

I like the old blue/green handle material. Here's a newish Model 15 and a fairly old Astro.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ymgq6dwdjw...irman.gif?dl=0

[samg]

I found a video of the Mercury Astronauts training, and the Astros are clearly visible being used at the 6:38 and the 13:40 mark.

https://youtu.be/qxM8MhlxMl8


Here are a couple stills.



Notice 3 Astros in this still. The film is awesome!

[samg]

You can see the key/screwdriver made for removing the bolts on the Astro swinging from the lanyard at the 6:44 mark.

https://youtu.be/qxM8MhlxMl8

[samg]

As it turns out, the Mercury Astronauts did their survival training outside Reno Nevada. Stead Air Force Base was established by the United States Air Force (USAF) at the airfield in 1951, when it was determined that the Sierra Nevada and forests would be suitable for survival training.

Here is a link to a shorter version of the other YouTube video that I posted earlier. In this short clip, an Air Force Master Sergeant picks up and unsheaths the Astro prior to a demonstration with Schirra and Slaytons looking on. The image is clearer in the video.

https://dissolve.com/video/1959-1963...01-D378-91-336

[samg]

Ok guys, I'm having too much fun with researching the Mercury Astronauts use of the Astros, but I just found a very interesting film that shows Scott Carpenter at desert training with the Randall model 3 that Bob Gaddis mentioned on page 172 of his book!

[samg]

Here is a picture of Alan Shepard working with his Astro. Not sure what he's doing, but the sheath is just below the knife. I believe Shepard is laying in his Mercury life raft.

[Sligo]

Sam this was epic ! No doubts !