Today is my late Granny's 88th birthday and I naturally started thinking back to the stories she would tell us while we were growing up. Once such story has historical relevance to NASA if it is true...and I would hope Granny wasn't spinning tall tales in her old age. I figured r/NASA would be a decent judge of that.
Granny lived in Philadelphia, PA and worked for a company called Foster's Sportswear/Lou Foster's Sportswear. It was herself, her Grandma Dutzman, and her Aunt Rose, who was the general manager at the time. As she told it, this company was contracted to create the jumpsuits and patches used by the Mercury 7. She told stories about Allen Shepard and others coming to the factory and NASA ultimately approving the design. If that's true, it's already a little piece of history. But this is where it gets a little interesting.
Unbeknownst to NASA, Granny and Aunt Rose wrote the names of their sons on pieces of paper (or the fabric itself, I can't remember) before sewing the mission patches on as a way to send a piece of their family up with the astronauts. I am a huge fan of NASA and the thought of anything relating to my family being physically in space is something I've geeked out about. But I'm not sure if the story checks out.
Some years back, I recall making searches for Foster's Sportswear and finding something relating to it and the jumpsuits but the page has disappeared. At the very least, I found a Foster's Sportswear in Philly, which adds some credence to the story. I'm hoping someone with knowledge of NASA could verify the remaining details (apart from the names, which only Granny would know). If not, no biggie. I'm content sharing an awesome story from my awesome Granny.
Submitted June 07, 2019 at 09:10PM by AgentOfMediocrity http://bit.ly/2KyZJmI
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