They Shot for the Moon

Walter "Wally" Schirra was another of the Mercury Seven. As a practical joker, Schirra was well known for his "mongoose", a spring-loaded furry jack-in-the-box that terrorized some of the bravest pilots in the country.  Rumor had it that Wally's problem was his weight, which is said to have fluctuated ten pounds either side of "normal." Since weight and balance were of such concern in case an astronaut had to eject from the Gemini spacecraft, Schirra was invited back for a second seat fitting so they would have the proper seat cushion and balance information regardless of his weight at the time of lift off. I got a tour of the plant one day and there they were, hanging on the wall for all to see. The molds the seat cushions had been cast from. There were two for Schirra. One was labeled "Fat Wally" and the other, "Skinny Wally."  Now, I don't know if the story is true or if it was the engineer's way of getting back at Schirra for some of his jokes, but I did see the seat cushion molds.