Lift-Off In Town: NASA Items At Orland Library

It was the kind of Christmas present that doesn't come around often.

Orland Park Public Library Director Mary Weimar stumbled upon an article about NASA distributing artifacts to museums and anywhere else that could properly store and care for the items. The items are surplus materials from the space shuttle program, said Michelle Nichols, master educator at the Adler Planetarium.

Kelly Cuci, head of Outreach Services at OPPL, said that Weimar gave her the article and told her to "run with it." The reward for what turned out to be a grueling process came right before the holidays, although it had begun in July.

OPPL won the chance to house items from NASA’s shuttle program.

Unearthly Exhibit
The display, which is being exhibited on the first floor of the library, contains a transfer bag, log book, liquid cooling suit, space shuttle model and other authentic items.

Nichols said the transfer bag is ideal for missions because it doesn't weigh much and collapses easily. From examining a picture of the bag, she's sure that it was used for one-way transfers--either to the space shuttle or from a mission.

"It saves space and weight, and when you travel in space, you want lightweight and small," Nichols said.

As for the log book, it carries on the recording tradition of airplane or boat travel, and serves as an instruction source, Nichols said.

The Right Kind of Help
Although OPPL received artifacts, they didn't receive all that was applied for, which is where Michelle Nichols stepped in. Cuci and Nichols are colleagues, and after discussing the different items that they had received, Nichols agreed to loan the library some of their space items: a liquid cooling suit and a space shuttle model (which the planetarium had previously possessed and was not a part of the NASA artifacts awarded to them).

"We weren't able to put it on display right away, but we still wanted people to see it," Nichols said of the cooling suit. "The library is right in our backyard, so it made sense to combine our resources."

The scale model is exactly what it sounds like--a model of a NASA space shuttle, complete with an orange external tank and two white boosters.

Though the liquid cooling garment did not fly in space, it was believed to be a part of a training suit assigned to astronaut William B. Lenoir, Ph.D, whose name can be found stitched onto a tag with the suit.

"Whether you're in space or on Earth, your temperature still needs to be regulated," said Nichols.

The garment contains tubes that flow water through them, helping the astronaut remain at a stable temperature.

"Otherwise, it'd be a great, big, puffy snowsuit," said Nichols.

Semi-Agression Was Key
"I'm probably one of the more…I wouldn't say aggressive…librarians," said Cuci with a laugh. "Every single time there's a viewing on the NASA website, I go and bid."

Cuci said a pre-conditional approval and transfer order that is sent to NASA were both parts of the approval process.

"I remember telling my husband, 'If it happens, great. I'm not going to hold my breath,'" said Cuci. "Everybody is jumping in, competing with the big museums. We're just a library. We're small compared to those guys."

Cuci received a second order on Tuesday of 15 more artifacts that the library was approved to house.

"By next year, we'll have an impressive exhibit," she said.

Jewels of Space
Cuci said the most exciting part of this whole process was going into the website and seeing the artifacts and the missions that they've flown on.

"You don't know what beautiful jewels will be there. It's really fabulous," she said. "This is the legacy that we leave for the community of Orland Park. It's quite a privilege."