EVA Patch Class I Flight Upper Arm TMG Assembly

Class I Flight EMU Component

This is a rearly available Space Shuttle right Upper Arm TMG (Thermal Micrometeoroid Garment) with EVA Patch. A component of the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) spacesuit. Inside sewn in ILC DOVER label reads "Part NO. 0103-810624-01, Serial NO. 043, Size 04, MFG. 2/96". This item is Class I flight hardware as indicated on the inventory label.

Upper Arm TMG measures about 12 x 10. NASA acquisition cost was $2500.00. This TMG is designated for the right arm as the US Flag is always on the left arm. The patch is printed on Beta Cloth and then sewn onto a designated section on the TMG. Condition is excelent, and should be conidered as unflown. An Upper Arm TMG with EVA patch in this condition is very rare. Those that have shown up at auctions exhibit water damaged due to their use in the NBL or WETF. Included is a NASA pink parts bag with cleaning, disposal and inventory labels as shown.

The EVA patch was first flown on STS-5, although that missions spacewalk was canceled due to malfunctioning suits. The first spacewalk utilizing the patch was on STS-6 by Story Musgrave and Don Peterson.

The design of the NASA EVA patch was the creation of Fred Keune, manager of Hamilton Standard's Houston office. It is based on a drawing by Leonardo da Vinci called “Vitruvian Man”. Leonardo da Vinci drew the Vitruvian Man, also known as “The proportions of the human body according to Vitruvius,” in about 1490.

More about da Vinci’s drawing “Vitruvian Man” can be read HERE

This original design of the EVA patch, like this one, contains three stars. The stars represented America’s first EVA by Ed White, Neil Armstrong’s lunar surface EVA, and the EVA’s by Pete Conrad and Joe Kerwin to repair and save the Skylab Program. The patch later had two stars added, one for the first EVA on STS-6, and a second for the first Eva from the International Space Station during STS-104. The new five star patch was first flown on STS-114's EVA’s.

The Upper Arm TMG extends from the shoulder to the elbow. A redesigned Hard Upper Torso (HUT) TMG Cover Assembly, which was first used on STS-82's EVA's, extended the shoulder cover down to the elbow. This meant the EVA patch and US Flag would no longer be visible. As a result, the EVA patch and US Flag patch were moved from the Upper Arm TMG to the HUT TMG Cover Assembly where they remain today.

This item is in excelent condition. There is a small mark (ink?) on the EVA patch as visible in the photo. There is also a very small light yellow stain, too light photograph. This TMG component was purchased as NASA surplus.

This item is export controlled and can only be shipped to a US address.