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I'm watching the documentary "The Real Right Stuff". Around the 14 minute mark they show a clip of a news interview of the 7 mercury astronauts describing how their family feels about them embarking on their historic mission.

After this clip the film mentions just how articulate John Glenn was during the interview and present this picture as they discuss further.

enter image description here

What is the pin on John Glenn's jacket in this image?

uhoh
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KDecker
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1 Answers1

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It's the Project Mercury / Mercury Seven emblem.

enter image description here

The astronauts went under the name Mercury Seven, and the program design includes the number seven. The symbol represented around the seven is the astronomical symbol for the planet Mercury, and the medieval sign for the element mercury as well. It consists of the biological sign for female, topped with “horns” to represent the winged hat that Mercury is usually depicted as wearing.

All from https://space.abemblem.com/products/mercury-program-patch

Organic Marble
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    Thanks! In hindsight I guess that sure makes a whole lot of sense... // Also honored to have you answer one of my questions. Of all the browsing I do across all StackExchange sites I rarely remember very many usernames. But I must say you're right after Jon Skeet on my list of memorable names and active users. – KDecker Oct 21 '21 at 02:24
  • Wasn't the whole project named Mercury, and Mercury's seventh mission Friendship 7? It certainly was Friendship 7 when as a child I climbed on Glenn's capsule in a London museum. – Robbie Goodwin Oct 21 '21 at 23:56
  • @RobbieGoodwin all the Mercury capsules names ended with a 7. It was again a reference to the number of astronauts. Friendship 7 was the vehicle for the 3rd manned / first orbital Mercury mission. There were only 6 manned Mercury missions, Slayton didn't fly in space till much later. See https://historicspacecraft.com/mercury.html – Organic Marble Oct 22 '21 at 01:23
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    "It consists of the biological sign for female" which, coincidentally, on its own is the medieval sign for the planet Venus. And also the element copper. Mars, whose symbol is the one we nowadays often refer to as the "biological sign for male" was also used for the element iron. According to Wikipedia, it was Carl Linnaeus who started that particular gender symbol convention. – Arthur Oct 22 '21 at 08:39
  • @KDecker: this is when we discover that Organic Marble is John Skeet. – Steve Melnikoff Oct 22 '21 at 11:12
  • @OrganicMarble That sounds reasonable, until we ask what "the number of astronauts" might mean. Clearly, nothing to do with any individual flight. Doesn't that leave, the number of astronauts who might (then) or might have (now) flown? That doesn't sound impossible and it does sound wholly unreasonable. Is there some justification - not from the historical historicspacecraft.com/mercury.html but from the planners' or managers' point of view? – Robbie Goodwin Oct 24 '21 at 19:04
  • @RobbieGoodwin I have to admit I don't really understand what you are asking in your comment. Possibly you are unfamiliar with the contemporary fame, almost adulation, showered on the "Mercury 7" astronauts? At the time of their selection, seven astronauts was all there were. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_Seven Or even better, read The Right Stuff, you won't regret it. – Organic Marble Oct 24 '21 at 19:43
  • @OrganicMarble I clearly remember the fame heaped upon those guys… that alone made me queue for hours to see and touch Friendship 7. I didn't climb aboard only as it seemed too small even for my child's frame. I've never understood how an adult squeezed into that tiny space. I have to admit, I don't at all understand what you find difficult about my Comment. Do you not see that there being only seven astronauts at the time of their selection should never have been a reason to name anything after that number? Suppose, for instance, some turned out to have been be wrongly selected? More… – Robbie Goodwin Oct 25 '21 at 18:08
  • @OrganicMarble Further… If you have evidence to show for a fact how the number of astronauts defined the names of the missions, I doubt I'm the only one who'd love to see it. – Robbie Goodwin Oct 25 '21 at 18:12
  • I've seen the whole reboot series from start to finish and it's great! you can find it on Disney+. Although the Disney version has Patrick J. Adams as Glenn. – Deko Revinio Sep 14 '22 at 08:13