By: Robert Pearlman
Link: http://www.collectspace.com/ubb/Forum41/HTML/001105.html?fbclid=IwAR2LjyGXM1-Yd8aCYGtR37S5r3eXTbvZBcYvuNTp75338fccYgxwNRaEEHc
A huge discovery has been made!
In an unmarked box in the archives, we rediscovered Neil Armstrong’s XMC-2 pressure suit used while he tested the X-15 at Edwards Air Force Base.
Each suit was custom made for the pilots by the David Clark company. It represented a major advancement in pressure suit technology and was a prototype for those used later by Mercury and Gemini astronauts. The suit had a ventilation layer for cooling as well as an outer heat resistant layer. These advances offered a more comfortable and maneuverable suit and protected the pilot in the event of cabin pressure failure or emergency ejection from the X-15 at extreme altitudes.
Our Museum Specialist, Renee Marchiano, displays the suit for the first time to the L28 news crew at the museum.
Another piece of Neil Armstrong’s X-15 suit has been identified at the San Diego Air & Space Museum in California:
It all started with SDASM museum curators taking apart an exhibition to give space for a new one. One of the objects had no tag and was photographed, measured and entered into the museum collection database as an “unidentified object.”
It was given the following description: “Object is a silver rectangle with a zipper and resembles a bag, back pack, or seat cover. Object has the number “59” written in black marker on the top and bottom of both sides. Object has the name “Neil Armstrong” stamped on one side with seven circular and rectangular cut outs. Interior of the object is green.”
