Flown MIR Zero Gravity Space Suit floated in Astronaut charity auction

A space suit designed for zero gravity and flown by a NASA astronaut, John Blaha, MIR is to sell

Space collectors will be eagerly marking their calendars for the scheduled Spring Auction of Space Memorabilia in favour of the Astronaut Scholarship Fund. Bidding runs from March 9-17.

The auction is not yet taking bids, but the range of space memorabilia and 'astronaut experiences' is already listed, and some of them are humdingers.

For a start, how about a flown space suit?

That's right; a space suit worn by John Blaha for his trip to the Russian MIR Space Station is up for grabs. Specifically, it's a 0G (zero gravity) space suit from the Russian Federal Space Agency.

John Blaha spent four months on the MIR Space Station and this was one of the two suits he wore, this being the one for special occasions such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Eve.

John Blaha's flown Russian MIR space station suit

It bears an American flag on one sleeve and Russian one on the other, and likewise a MIR patch on once breast pocket and a NASA one on the other.

The suit, which has a range of zipped pockets all the way down its length, is lined with weights in various places. This encouraged astronauts to use muscles which could otherwise get little exercise during the trip, and thus make a significant difference to bone density by the time they returned to Earth.

Collectors on the look-out for space suits will be excited to know that we have the training suit of the one and only Buzz Aldrin - signed by the man himself - currently available for sale.

Recent and related articles

· Mercury 7 signed stamp sheet set to star at Washington rare coin auction | 5 March 2012

· Neil Armstrong autographed Apollo medallion rockets into online sale | 31 January 2012

· Apollo 11 space-flown flag flies high in online Space & Aviation auction | 21 January 2012

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Images: Astronaut Scholarship Fund