1963 Exhibit Supply Co. : Astronauts and Spacecraft



1963 Exhibit Supply Co. : Astronauts and Spacecraft

The Astronauts and Spacecraft series was released by The Exhibit Supply Co. (ESCO) in 1963. The 32-card series features official NASA photographs from Project Mercury and Project Gemini. The American Card Catalog reference is W454.

The cards were dispensed from ESCO vending machines for two cents each. Complete sets were sold by distributors. Each card measures approximately 3.375 x 5.375 inches, smaller than a standard postcard. The back of each Astronauts and Spacecraft card contains a typewritten description.

1963 ESCO Astronauts and Spacecraft 26 - Mercury-Redstone 3 1963 ESCO Astronauts and Spacecraft 26 - Mercury-Redstone 3

"The Mercury spacecraft, Freedom 7, is shown here with the escape tower and retrorockets. The capsule has a height of 9 feet and a 74- inch width at the base. Its weight is approximately one ton. The basic structural materials are titanium, berylium, and nickel-base alloys. The escape tower is comprised of a 14-foot tubular system attached to the top of the capsule by explosive bolts. Three retrorockets enclosed in a housing on the blunt end of the capsule are designed to provide reverse propulsion and slow the capsule in orbit by about 500 feet per second so that it will drop out of orbit."

"On May 5, 1961, Alan B. Shepard Jr. made America's first man-in-space flight in the Freedom 7 capsule shown here. Launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, he traveled 302 miles and attained a height of 116.5 miles."


Card #19 depicts "The Original Seven Project Mercury Astronauts" in a press photograph from April 9, 1959.

1963 ESCO Astronauts and Spacecraft #19 - The Original Seven Project Mercury Astronauts
(Front Row L–R) Walter H. Schirra, Jr., Donald K. Slayton, John H. Glenn, Jr., Scott Carpenter (Back Row L–R) Alan B. Shepard, Jr., Virgil I. Gus Grissom, L. Gordon Cooper


Astronauts and Spacecraft
1 Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar
2 USAF Discoverer 24 (Corona 9018A) Launch, July 7, 1961
3 Project Gemini Spacecraft
4 Echo 1
5 Project Mercury Ballistic Capsule
6 Pioneer 5
7 Orbiting Solar Observatory OSO-1
8 Ranger 4
9 TIROS-5
10 Alan B. Shepard, Jr., Freedom 7
11 Alan B. Shepard, Jr.
12 Mercury-Redstone 3 Launch, May 5, 1961
13 Virgil "Gus" Grissom
14 Liberty Bell 7 Recovery
15 Mercury-Redstone 4: Liberty Bell 7 Launch, July 21, 1961
17 Malcolm Scott Carpenter
18 Mercury-Atlas 7: Aurora 7 Launch, May 24, 1962
19 The Original Seven Project Mercury Astronauts
20 Walter M. Schirra, Jr.
21 Mercury-Atlas 6 Launch, February 20, 1962
22 John Herschell Glenn, Jr.
23 Saturn C-1, October 27. 1961
24 Walter M. Schirra, Jr.
25 Explorer 7 Launch, October 13, 1959
26 Mercury-Redstone 3: Freedom 7
27 Mariner 1 Spacecraft Model
28 Earth, Friendship 7, February 20, 1962
29 Atlas-Centaur
30 TIROS
31 Project Mercury: Little Joe 1 Launch, August 21, 1959
32 Leroy Gordon Cooper, Jr.