America’ first industrial astronaut has placed his personal collection on museum display 19 years (and two days) after he made his first historic launch into space.
Mike Melvill and his wife Sally have donated their archives to the Experimental Aircraft Association’s (EAA) Aviation Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The brand new exhibit opened to the general public on Friday (June 23) just opposite and underneath a full-scale replica of Melvill’s ride, SpaceShipOne.
“The EAA Aviation Museum is unveiling the brand new Melvill Collection,” the association posted to its social media accounts on Tuesday. “It honors Mike Melvill, the nation’s first industrial astronaut, who flew SpaceShipOne above 100 kilometers [62 miles] on June 21, 2004.”
“Thanks to Mike and Sally Melvill for making this unique display possible,” the staff on the EAA wrote.
Although not as expansive because the museum’s other two astronaut exhibitions — the EAA has been home to Gemini and Apollo veteran Frank Borman’s archives since 2018 and X-15 and space shuttle commander Joe Engle’s mementos since 2021 — what the Melvill collection doesn’t have in size, it makes up for in scope. The pieces on display speak to each Mike’s profession as a record-setting pilot and his and Sally’s 62 years together.
The exhibit includes the National Aeronautic Association’s Robert J. Collier trophy as presented to Melvill, together with fellow pilot Brian Binnie, designer Burt Rutan, sponsor Paul Allen and the whole SpaceShipOne team, in 2004. Also on display is Melvill’s first Iven C. Kincheloe Award, which he received in recognition of flight testing Scaled Composites’ Model 281 Proteus, a tandem-wing high-altitude long-endurance aircraft that helped pave the best way for the SpaceShipOne carrier, White Knight (One).
Melvill’s astronaut wings are here, too. On the identical day he flew SpaceShipOne above Earth’s atmosphere for the primary time, Melvill was awarded the primary set of Business Astronaut Wings by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Today, they’re certainly one of only 30 to exist. Although the the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) continues to keep up a listing of qualifying individuals, the presentation of physical wings ceased in 2021.
The Melvill exhibit also showcases memorabilia from his profession. On display are two envelopes (“covers”) postmarked for the 2 X Prize spaceflights, each signed and carried into space by their respective pilots (Melvill and Binnie). There are also six rarely seen patches representing White Knight and SpaceShipOne flights.
After which there’s the bag of gray, blue and white custom-printed M&Ms. Unable to drift across the cabin as a consequence of his having to stay strapped into his seat, Melvill demonstrated that he was weightless by reaching into his pocket and releasing a handful of the candy-coated chocolates. The impromptu and unexpected sight on the June 21 flight resulted in Mars, Inc. becoming a sponsor of the X Prize flights that followed.
The exhibit includes certainly one of the commemorative bags of custom-printed M&Ms that got out to spectators at each the Sept. 29 and Oct. 4, 2004 spaceflights. (The EAA also has a couple of of Melvill’s flown M&Ms that were scooped off the ground of SpaceShipOne after he landed from his first flight, but their addition to the exhibit continues to be to return.)
The display is titled “The Mike and Sally Melvill Collection,” not only the Mike Melvill collection, and that’s reflected by several of the items. Married in 1961, Sally received her pilot’s license in 1977 and the 2 went to work for the Rutan Aircraft Factory for greater than 30 years. Each are EAA lifetime members (since 1977 and 1981, respectively) as represented by a pair of picket plaques.
The centerpiece of the exhibit is a small silver horseshoe-shaped pin that Mike gave Sally when she was 16. At any time when he would go on a dangerous flight, Sally would give him the pin to wear — including aboard SpaceShipOne. It served as Mike’s lucky charm, as he would return the pin to Sally after every landing.