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Obama's new space clothes: Photos
14 Nov 2011 at 04:29hrs | Views
Photos credit: The White House / Pete Souza
#CCCCCC" face="sans-serif" size="-1">The US commander-in-chief, President Barack Obama, donned the jacket for
a different type of commander while meeting with the astronauts who
flew NASA's final space shuttle mission inside the Oval Office at the
White House on Tuesday (Nov. 1). STS-135 mission commander Chris Ferguson, pilot Doug Hurley, Sandra Magnus and Rex Walheim, both mission specialists, together with flight operations director and astronaut Janet Kavandi presented the President with his very own blue flight jacket. NASA astronauts have worn the same style jacket for decades when they trained in T-38 supersonic jets. The President's jacket displayed the embroidered patch for the final space shuttle mission, which landed in July, on the right sleeve. Sewn on just above it, was the patch for the very first shuttle flight, STS-1, which launched in 1981. The front of the jacket was adorned with an additional three missions' patches, as well as the NASA insignia. Below the agency's emblem on the right chest was the STS-104 patch, the 105th shuttle mission and Kavandi's third and final flight. On the left chest were the patches for STS-31 and STS-134. The earlier, sewn at top, represented the mission that deployed the Hubble Space Telescope. STS-31 was piloted by Charles Bolden, who Obama appointed as NASA Administrator. STS-134, the second-to-last mission of the shuttle program and the final flight for orbiter Endeavour was commanded by Mark Kelly. Obama reached out to Kelly in January after the astronaut's wife, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, was shot. Rounding out the jacket's accessories were a lapel pin displaying NASA's shuttle program commemorative logo and a name tag. The Velcro-attached black tag was inscribed in gold letters: Obama is not the first president to be gifted with an astronaut jacket. In 1988, the crew of STS-26, which returned the space shuttle to flight after the loss of orbiter Challenger, gave President Ronald Reagan a similar coat decorated with patches that flew on the shuttle Discovery mission. On both occasions, the astronauts were dressed more like a president, foregoing their royal blue jackets for business suits. #999999">Photos credit: The White House / Pete Souza |
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#CCCCCC" face="sans-serif" size="-1">Above:
From left, space shuttle Atlantis STS-135 pilot Doug Hurley, mission
specialist Sandy Magnus, commander Chris Ferguson and mission specialist
Rex Walheim watch from the background as Janet Kavandi, Director of
Flight Crew Operations at Johnson Space Center, Texas, presents
President Obama with a coat from Space Shuttle Atlantis' final mission,
in the Oval Office, Nov. 1, 2011. |
#CCCCCC" face="sans-serif" size="-1">Above:
Janet Kavandi, Director of Flight Crew Operations at Johnson Space
Center, presents President Obama with a jacket during a drop by with the
crew of the space shuttle Atlantis in the Oval Office, Nov. 1, 2011.
The jacket features patches from several past space shuttle missions.
Pictured in the background, from left, are: pilot Douglas Hurley,
mission specialist Sandra Magnus, commander Chris Ferguson and mission
specialist Rex Walheim. |
#CCCCCC" face="sans-serif" size="-1">Above:
President Barack Obama meets with space shuttle Atlantis' STS-135 crew:
pilot Doug Hurley, mission specialist Sandy Magnus, commander Chris
Ferguson and mission specialist Rex Walheim.
Source - www.collectspace.com
