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Apollo Command Module In-Flight Coverall Garment (ICG) jacket designed for Apollo 10 backup crew commander Gordon Cooper, with tag sewn inside the collar reading: "Coverall Jacket, P/N: BW-1060-002, Size: M.R. S/N: 1105, Subject: Cooper, Contract No. NAS 9-8309, Date of Mfg.: 3-3-69, Mfg. By: Welson Co." The jacket features a snap-down placket, pouch pockets on the sleeves, and faded American flag and NASA ‘meatball’ logo Beta patches on the left shoulder and right chest areas, respectively. In fine condition, with a few stains to the back and evidence of use, namely perspiration toning to the collar.
NASA developed the In-Flight Coverall Garment (ICG) to provide astronauts with a lighter, more flexible alternative to the bulky spacesuit worn during launch and reentry. Once safely in orbit, astronauts often changed into these garments to remain comfortable during the long translunar flights of the Apollo missions. This ICG jacket was manufactured for Gordon ‘Gordo’ Cooper when he served as backup commander for Apollo 10, and was likely used as a training or test article during mission preparation.
Cooper, along with Donn F. Eisele and Edgar D. Mitchell, was announced as the Apollo 10 backup crew on November 13, 1968. Under NASA’s normal crew-rotation system, this assignment placed the trio in line to become the prime crew of Apollo 13. However, in May 1969, astronaut Alan Shepard returned to flight status following surgery for Ménière’s disease, which had grounded him since the early 1960s. With Shepard now eligible to fly again, Director of Flight Crew Operations Deke Slayton reshuffled the rotation and replaced Cooper with Shepard after roughly six months as Apollo 10’s backup commander.
The change ultimately removed Cooper from the Apollo flight rotation entirely. Shepard’s crew—along with Mitchell, who remained on the team—was later reassigned to Apollo 14 to allow additional training time, where Shepard and Mitchell would go on to walk on the Moon. Cooper, meanwhile, never flew another mission and retired from NASA and the U.S. Air Force in July 1970.
