ap11-S69-38889HR.jpg S69-38943ThumbnailsNEILGLV2S69-38943ThumbnailsNEILGLV2
This pre-flight photo shows Neil's suit in its lunar surface configuration, which includes the Liquid Cooled Garment at the left and the EVA (Extra-vehicular) gloves and moon boots at the right. Mike Gentry at NASA Johnson gives a date for the photo of 9 July 1969, but this may represent the date when the photo was released to the public and that the date it was taken was earlier. Research by Frederic Artner.

The suit is shown with a strap-on pocket attached to the left thigh, as was the case during the EVA. In a detail from S69-38889 ( 166k ), we see some horizontal strips of Velcro hooks on the outside of the top flap which, on later missions, mated with horizontal strips of Velcro pile on the suit to hold the flap open. In the detail, we see that a loop of Velcro has been added been attached to the flap and a corresponding strip of Velcro has been attached over the front of the left hip. Further details of a typical strap-on pocket can be found in an Apollo 16 discussion. The suit shown in that discussion is Charlie Duke's training suit, which had horizontal strips of Velcro pile just above the knee, because Charlie wore his strap-on pockets on his shins.

Ulli Lotzmann notes that the card placed between the boots that reads "PGA 076" is wrong. The actual serial number of Neil's PGA is 056. The mistake is undoubtedly due to the fact that the serial number of Neil's suit 'liner assembly' is 076. The person who created the card probably saw the serial number of the liner and thought that was the number for the entire PGA as well. Bill Ayrey (ILC) has provided "the fit-check record from the day that Neil was initially fitted into his 056 suit. It was on December 5, 1968 at 5 PM (which was on a Thursday). Mel Case was the ILC engineer performing the fit check. Neil came back to ILC on Saturday, May 3, 1969 for his final fit-check in the 056 suit."

Journal Contributor Roland Suhr notes that there isn't a mission patch on the suit. Photos S69-38489 to 38517, taken during an EMU Crew and Cabin Fit-and-Function (CCFF) session on 25 June 1969, also show the flight suits without mission patches. Clearly, the patches were put on the suits no earlier than 25 June. On 27 January 2014, ILC Historian Bill Ayrey wrote: "ILC was responsible for preparing the suits which included sewing the patches on. NASA was responsible for providing the patches which as I recall, they bought from a company named Lion Brothers. (Bill is correct. See Gene Dorr's patch webpage.) Ron Woods was one of our ILC suit technicians at the time and actually suited Buzz up for his Apollo 11 mission. " On 28 January 2014, Ron Woods told Ayrey "We were very late on sewing on the Beta (cloth) Flight Patches. Maybe two weeks prior to launch. And, of course, they were top stitched with the sewing machine and then carefully hand sewn through the top layer of the TMG (Thermal-Micrometeoroid Garment)."
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Johnson Space Center
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NASA
Description
This pre-flight photo shows Neil's suit in its lunar surface configuration, which includes the Liquid Cooled Garment at the left and the EVA (Extra-vehicular) gloves and moon boots at the right. Mike Gentry at NASA Johnson gives a date for the photo of 9 July 1969, but this may represent the date when the photo was released to the public and that the date it was taken was earlier. Research by Frederic Artner.

The suit is shown with a strap-on pocket attached to the left thigh, as was the case during the EVA. In a detail from S69-38889 ( 166k ), we see some horizontal strips of Velcro hooks on the outside of the top flap which, on later missions, mated with horizontal strips of Velcro pile on the suit to hold the flap open. In the detail, we see that a loop of Velcro has been added been attached to the flap and a corresponding strip of Velcro has been attached over the front of the left hip. Further details of a typical strap-on pocket can be found in an Apollo 16 discussion. The suit shown in that discussion is Charlie Duke's training suit, which had horizontal strips of Velcro pile just above the knee, because Charlie wore his strap-on pockets on his shins.

Ulli Lotzmann notes that the card placed between the boots that reads "PGA 076" is wrong. The actual serial number of Neil's PGA is 056. The mistake is undoubtedly due to the fact that the serial number of Neil's suit 'liner assembly' is 076. The person who created the card probably saw the serial number of the liner and thought that was the number for the entire PGA as well. Bill Ayrey (ILC) has provided "the fit-check record from the day that Neil was initially fitted into his 056 suit. It was on December 5, 1968 at 5 PM (which was on a Thursday). Mel Case was the ILC engineer performing the fit check. Neil came back to ILC on Saturday, May 3, 1969 for his final fit-check in the 056 suit."

Journal Contributor Roland Suhr notes that there isn't a mission patch on the suit. Photos S69-38489 to 38517, taken during an EMU Crew and Cabin Fit-and-Function (CCFF) session on 25 June 1969, also show the flight suits without mission patches. Clearly, the patches were put on the suits no earlier than 25 June. On 27 January 2014, ILC Historian Bill Ayrey wrote: "ILC was responsible for preparing the suits which included sewing the patches on. NASA was responsible for providing the patches which as I recall, they bought from a company named Lion Brothers. (Bill is correct. See Gene Dorr's patch webpage.) Ron Woods was one of our ILC suit technicians at the time and actually suited Buzz up for his Apollo 11 mission. " On 28 January 2014, Ron Woods told Ayrey "We were very late on sewing on the Beta (cloth) Flight Patches. Maybe two weeks prior to launch. And, of course, they were top stitched with the sewing machine and then carefully hand sewn through the top layer of the TMG (Thermal-Micrometeoroid Garment)."
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