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Flag, United States, Freedom 7 Flight

National Air and Space Museum

Object Details

Summary
This flag, which accompanied NASA astronaut Alan B. Shepard on his 15 minute suborbital journey on May 5, 1961 as the first US human spaceflight, was the first US flag to have been flown in space twice.
First, it was the first US flag included on a human spaceflight. The student council president and the principal of Cocoa Beach School near the Florida launch site gave the flag to a reporter, who in turn gave it to the head of the NASA Space Task Group, Robert Gilruth, with the request that it be included on Mercury-Redstone 3 (MR-3), if possible. The flag was rolled up and stuck in a wiring bundle in Shepard's spacecraft, Freedom 7, although he was not aware that it was there. After it returned to Earth, the flag was also flown over Independence Hall in Philadelphia, PA on July 4, 1961. Gilruth then returned the flag to the school, which was later called the Freedom 7 School. After the school later closed, the Smithsonian Institution received it in 1984 as a gift of the Brevard (Florida) County Board of Education.
Then, while the flag was on loan to the Kennedy Space Center and on display at the Astronaut Hall of Fame, NASA sent the flag back to space in 1995 aboard STS-71, which was the 100th human spaceflight flown by the United States.
Credit Line
Gift of the Brevard County Board of Education
Inventory Number
A19840955000
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Type
MEMORABILIA-Events
Materials
cloth, 2 brass eye ringlets
Dimensions
2-D - Unframed (H x W): 58.4 x 91.4cm (23 x 36 in.)
Country of Origin
United States of America
See more items in
National Air and Space Museum Collection
Title
First American Flag in Space
National Air and Space Museum
Record ID
nasm_A19840955000
Metadata Usage (text)
Not determined
GUID (Link to Original Record)
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nv98df55d75-37b0-4dd2-a671-e2ae66fe25f7

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There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page .
International media Interoperability Framework
IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.
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