He was indicted back in May and pleaded not guilty, but now admits that he took it.
Posted on 08/17/2010 6:56:17 PM PDT by smokingfrog
A former NASA contract employee has pleaded guilty to stealing machine equipment and a space flight suit worn by the first U.S. female astronaut in space.
The U.S. Attorney's Office statement issued Tuesday says 56-year-old Calvin Smith faces up to 10 years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines at his sentencing scheduled for November.
Smith had been charged with having stolen and concealed property belonging to NASA.
The flight suit bearing the name patch Sally Ride for the first U.S. woman astronaut in space is valued at more than $1,000. The machine parts Smith admitted stealing are worth around $7,400.
Smith's estranged wife contacted authorities after finding the items in a suitcase.
He was indicted back in May and pleaded not guilty, but now admits that he took it.
Not a good thing to do.
“Smith’s estranged wife contacted authorities after finding the items in a suitcase.”
Soon to be ex-wife.
"The flight suit bearing the name patch Sally Ride for the first U.S. woman astronaut in space is valued at more than $1,000."
The headline says “space suit”. The article says “flight suit”. I don’t think a space suit would fit into a suitcase.
LOL!!
...he should have taken it straight to Rick at Pawn Stars...flop that suit on the counter and Rick would have creamed.
Bad headline. I’m pretty sure it’s a flight suit, and not a pressurized space suit.
Yep, I think a space suit (especially Sally Rides’) is worth more than $1000.
Flight suit, obviously.
Still a pretty nasty thing for someone to do.
You are correct — Sally Ride never had a pressurized space suit. Most shuttle flights only carry two suits for the two astronauts performing EVAs. The other five astronauts wear shirt sleeves in orbit.
wow, he would not look good in that suit.
On the other hand like NASA is every going to have a use for space suits anymore.....
Maybe next time they send a female astronaut Obama will insist they pack her in a tarp with eye holes. You know, more outreach, instead of reaching out to the stars.
Wow!
Thats Weird
Actually the whole crew wears pressurized flight suits for the launch (ascent) and landing (descent) parts for the shuttle flight. The EVA crew wears the bulkier EVA suits to do the EVA (space walks). Once they reach orbit the crew removes and stows their helmets and and pressure suits until they are ready to deorbit and return home.
That all said, it is likely one of Ms. Ride’s training aircraft flight suits that this POS stole if it was only valued at $1k (that’s mostly for the paperwork that certified it, you can buy a knockoff flight suit at the Space Center Houston gift shop for far less than $100.) The astronauts have several pair and often wear them as a defacto uniform when they are training, not necessarily in an aircraft. It is quite possible that got lost in the shuffle after some training exercise, where she changed into a clean flight suit and expected that someone would make sure the dirty suit got cleaned and returned to her office.
The pressurized flight suits were a post-1986 innovation. The blue flight suits were worn by the crew after the first four “experimental” flights until the Challenger disaster. I don’t know that this suit actually flew, but you’re right — the paperwork gives it the $1K value. An historian would argue for a much higher value.
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