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Knife, Astronaut Survival

Air and Space Museum

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  • Steel knife with movable, hollow wooden handles and leather tong
  • Steel knife with hollow wooden handles and leather tong

    Object Details

    Manufacturer

    W. D. Randall Jr.

    Summary

    This is a duplicate of a hand-wrought survival knife made by the Randall Knives Co., a maker of speciality knives of all types. One was carried as equipment on Alan Shepard's "Freedom 7" suborbital Mercury mission on May 5, 1961. On this flight, Shepard became the first American, and second human (after Yuri Gagarin), in space. The original survival knife was lost when the hatch was jettisoned after landing in the Atlantic Ocean.
    W.D. Randall, Jr., gave this knife to the Smithsonian.

    Credit Line

    Gift of Mr. W.D. Randall, Jr.

    Inventory Number

    A19620001000

    Restrictions & Rights

    CC0

    Type

    EQUIPMENT-Survival

    Materials

    Steel, leather, micarta

    Dimensions

    3-D: 24.1 × 8.3 × 2.5cm (9 1/2 × 3 1/4 × 1 in.)

    Country of Origin

    United States of America

    See more items in

    National Air and Space Museum Collection

    Data Source

    National Air and Space Museum

    Metadata Usage

    CC0

    Link to Original Record

    http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nv98660d5ad-902d-4f8f-9060-3fe5a66b1b53

    Record ID

    nasm_A19620001000

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