Hello, friends!

We did not make the funding for this project—but I'm not giving up!

While I cannot (yet) create the kind of exhibit planned here, I WILL have a space exhibit—albeit a small one—showing at the Santore Library in South Philly starting this Sunday.

It's not the great story-telling vehicle I hope to create someday...but it's a good start. And I'll learn from it. In the meantime, I'm going to change the website (http://www.surveyofspace.com) to a site about this new exhibit.

For those of you who contributed, thanks for your support!

Ray

[This is only a draft. I haven't even fact checked it yet. That said, with a few adjustments, I plan on using it. It'll be fun for kids to stand under the line and see THEY qualify to be astronauts...when some of their parents don't!]

You must be SHORTER than the orange line to fly the Mercury spacecraft.

Because America's first manned spacecraft (called Mercury) was a tight fit, early astronauts could be no taller than 5'11".

The 2nd American in space, Gus Grissom, was only 5'6".

One early astronaut candidate, C.C. Williams was about a quarter of an inch too tall. The night before his examination to qualify as an astronaut, Williams jumped up and down to compress his spine and shrink his height.

It worked. Williams was selected. Unfortunately, he died in a jet crash before he could fly in space.

New Title, New Fonts

Okay. I’ve updated the title for the space exhibit. It’s now called...

“Survey of Space: Adventures Above the Planet.”

A friend pointed out—correctly—that the title “Survey of Space” was dull. I’m keeping it as part of the title because the exhibit, in fact, includes a “survey of space.” There will be a timeline so exhibit viewers will have the context for the space exploration stores we’ll be telling.

That said, I’ve added—and will put the emphasis on—the more dramatic title: “Adventures Above the Planet.” This title is more interesting, and lets people know that we’ll be discussing “adventures”, i.e. dramatic, exciting stories.

Now, here’s where I need your help. Which font looks best? Please note, I’m trying to make the exhibit feel playful and fun. The fonts I’m considering are comic book and science fiction fonts.

Post your thoughts as a comment, or email me. In any case, I want your opinion!

Hi!

I'm just getting started here. As you know from the project description, I'm planning to put together an exhibit about space exploration—to loan to museums, schools and libraries for free.

I've already got artifacts, including:

Astronaut Gus Grissom's ID badge worn to inspect the Apollo 1 spacecraft while it was under construction. (Grissom and his crew later died in a fire in that spacecraft.)

A shirt worn by a shuttle pilot aboard Atlantis...and on the space station Mir. (Also, a picture of the pilot wearing that shirt while floating through the space station.)

Original flight plans...some signed by the astronaut crews...of various space missions, including: Apollo 12, Apollo 8, the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP).

Helmut, papers and other materials used by a man who worked in the block house for most of the Mercury and Gemini missions. (includes the countdown for Gordon Cooper's Mercury flight...with notes.)

There's many more artifacts, and I don't yet know which will be included in the final version of the exhibit. I'm working on it...
MEANWHILE
In addition to following things here, you can check out the website surveyofspace.com and the twitter account as well.