Mercury Heatshield Samples (Pre-Renovation)

During my 2012 visit, there was a display case with a variety of Mercury spacecraft heatshield samples. At the time there was no signage to indicate whether they were flown pieces or if they were engineering samples exposed to heating, but by 2018 a sign was added indicating that they were taken, post-flight, from the heatshield of MA-7 (Aurora 7).

I also photographed these heatshield samples during my 2018 trip, after the museum renovated this exhibit.