Not Exactly “Have Space Suit, Will Travel”, But This Works Too

Two students in Florida may have just secured their tuition for the rest of their time in college. In a Salvation Army thrift shop scheduled to go out of business, Talia Rappa and Skyler Ashworth found five blue flight suits (and one white one) beneath a pile of sweaters. Unable to believe their own luck, at first, they contacted The American Space Museum in Florida. The Museum verified their authenticity.

A tag inside one of the blue suits identifies it as a “launch/entry coverall” made by ILC Space Systems. The Smithsonian Institute says this type of suit was used in the shuttle program from late 1982 to 1986, so this would have been worn before or after a flight, but not during. That means the suits probably did not go into space themselves, but it’s surely the next best thing.

Rappa and Ashworth both have connections to space. Rappa studies astrophysics at the University of Central Florida. Ashworth’s parents were involved with NASA communications during the shuttle program era, and he plans to enter an aerospace program at Eastern Florida State College.

You may have missed out on picking up the NASA suits for a killer deal, but you can still own one, if your pockets are deep enough. The American Space Museum is scheduled to auction the suits off on November 4. You’ll just have to pay a lot more for them than Rappa and Ashworth did. The museum estimates they could sell to collectors for $5,000 (£3,900, AU$6,400) each. There’s no word on how much this will benefit the two students, but we hope it’s a lot. Everybody deserves a lucky break now and then.

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SCIFI Radio Staff

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