I was planning on driving the 40 miles to Sparta to see this museum even if I had to go by myself. But when Saturday dawned gray and wet, it wasn’t difficult to convince most of my fellow-campers to tag along.
Deke Slayton was one of the original seven Mercury astronauts chosen in 1959, but he was grounded for many years due to a heart murmur. He was finally cleared to fly in 1975 and piloted the docking module for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in which American and Russian ships docked in space. Slayton was born in Sparta and flew 56 bombing missions over Europe and seven over Japan during World War II.
The museum chronicles his career, but also, strangely, the history of the bicycle. the two themes are presented in the same space with no attempt to link them that I could see.
A lawn mower bike created by a man for his wife.
An ice bike that was taken off the market due to instability. Surprise!
Slayton’s original Mercury space suit, on loan from NASA.
A moon rock (pebble)
What the red chair weighs on the Moon, Mars, Venus, and Earth (more or less).
