Dale Gardner's flown blue flight suit worn aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery on the STS-51-A mission, comprising his jacket and pants. The zip-up jacket features embroidered NASA 'meatball' and 'worm' logo patches on the chest, as well as a large STS-51-A mission patch and "Dale Gardner" name patch attached with Velcro. The left shoulder features an embroidered patch of the flag of the United States. The original ILC Space Systems tag is sewn inside the collar, reading: "Item: Jacket, Part No. 10101-20001-04, Serial No. N/A, Size M/R, Code ID 74897, Mfg. 11/83, Contract No. NAS9-16589." The tag was evidently struck through with red ink when the jacket was downgraded to a Class III non-flight item in 1990, as indicated by the accompanying non-functional equipment parts inspection tag. Includes its original bag with NASA-JSC cleaning label and attached red NASA property tags for the jacket and name tag.
The matching trousers have the original ILC Space Systems tag inside the fly, which is faded but has most numbers recorded on the accompanying non-functional equipment parts tag: "Item: Trousers, Part No. 10101-20002-04, Serial No. N/A, Size M/R." Like the tag in the jacket, it was evidently struck through with red ink when the trousers were downgraded to a Class III non-flight item in 1990. Also includes its original bag with NASA-JSC cleaning label.
STS-51-A launched from Kennedy Space Center on November 8, 1984, and returned 7 days, 23 hours, and 44 minutes later on November 16th. During the flight, the Space Shuttle Discovery completed 127 orbits of Earth and logged over 3.2 million miles. Dale Gardner flew as a mission specialist, and-with Joe Allen-performed two spacewalks during the flight to retrieve the malfunctioning communications satellites Palapa B2 and Westar 6. These untethered EVAs marked the final use of the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) propulsion pack, which was judged to be too risky to use after the Challenger disaster. A super desirable, flight-worn suit from Gardner's historic week-long stint in orbit.
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