The HabForum

One of my many hobbies is reasearching flight jackets. I have more than one man should.
When i was at SC last month I seriously pondered buying one of the camp jackets, but was unimpressed when I saw them in person. For starters, the patches were glued on, and that's rarely a good sign. But the counselors had them, and I was wondering if anyone buys these with any frequency.
Frankly, I'm thinking of converting a Alpha Industries NASA jacket I have over to my version of a camp one. This is what I think it'd look like (pending my mission patches to arrive someday). Has anyone else ever done anything like this?

Last I checked (though it's been a while), the jackets the counselors wear are not the same ones sold in the gift shop.

That's a really sharp looking "Alumni" patch on that jacket.

bnaivar wrote:That's a really sharp looking "Alumni" patch on that jacket.

Yeah, I had to get one because this is what I'd had in mind for it.
It's not 100% in line with what a NASA mission jacket is normally laid out as. I was thinking more along the lines of what a camp flight suit looks like and also NASA jackets, too. My idea is a hybrid between the two. Right now, the same jacket has patches on it from the 747 SCA orbiter delivery flights, but I’ve been wanting to remove that now that these are over and done with.
This is it right now:

I only thought of moving the meatball to the sleeve as the camp flight suits have that. Maybe I’ll keep the NASA patch where it is and move the mission patch to the sleeve and put the alumni one under that (depending which one is larger once the mission one is in my hands). The 30th anniversary patch placement was more along the lines of how the NASA visitor center patch is above the nametape on the camp suits, but I never liked that patch all that much...
It's a work in progress.

Vincent wrote:Last I checked (though it's been a while), the jackets the counselors wear are not the same ones sold in the gift shop.

You are correct, Vincent. My daughter was a counselor hired during a time when jackets were not issued. I bought one at the gift shop for Christmas and had to rearrange the patches and add the velcro strip for her name badge.

That's odd to me because I know for certain that the two counselors in my session last month were wearing the exact same jackets you could buy in the gift shop. I even looked at one carefully when our trainer left her sitting on a table in the Hab one morning to be sure of that. To me it seemed so odd they'd be wearing jackets at all because it was not the least bit chilly outside the entire time I was there (well, not cold by the standard of someone who's lived near Seattle for 14 years, anyway). I had two NASA jackets in my rental van the entire time at camp and never pulled either out.

Depending on when the counselors were hired would determine whether they were given the oppurtunity to get the counselor jackets with place for name tag and space camp and AC patches. I was a summer hire in 07 we were not given the option at all. They were not even going to issue us sweat shirts except some mornings were so cold cpounselors were complaining in training so they finally issued them to us. Winter hires and ones who stay on after summer long enough get the option. It might be your counselors bought the gift shop ones for themselves and depending on what they had when you saw them may have modified them as well.

I have one bought in the gift shop in 2005 not sure if the manufacturer may have changed or just their practices. All 3 of the patches of mine are sewn on already when it was pirchased. My only complaint was the NASA meatball on it is a rather thin cheaper patch than the flag and shuttle patch and i think the nmeatball should have been a bit smaller in size. I keep meaning to put some velcro on it so i can but my counselor flight suit name plate on it as well. I have the velcro but just havent done it. Never added any camp patches to mine or any others just kept the original look.

Oh one other thing the counselor jackets have a differnt layout. The ones i have always seen that only counselors had access too had the american flag as usual. the NASA meatball on the right sleave, a space camp and aviation challenge patch one on each the breast and the spot for a name tag. The ones available in the gift shop like i have had no camp patches had the flag on the left sleavem nasa meatball on the left breast and shuttle program patch on the right. Nothing on the right sleave

Boomerang wrote:The ones available in the gift shop like i have had no camp patches had the flag on the left sleavem nasa meatball on the left breast and shuttle program patch on the right. Nothing on the right sleave

They must have changed the jacket recently, then, because the ones in the gift shop DO have sleeve patches. In fact, they're clearly glued on because I saw one NASA meatball peeling off a sleeve, which is one of the reasons I decided not to buy one (that, and I'd spent a fortune at the gift shop already and it was boiling hot outside at the time)...
Don't go by the website photos, those aren't the jackets being sold in the gift shop, at least not when i was there last month!

Well come to think of it the red swoosh that comes outside of the blue on mine is pealing a bit. the main part of the patch is sewn on but i think they glued the thinner red parts coming out of the blue probably because they are so narrow. I think my jacket is made by flight line and amazingly was made in America as well. But yeah it did not have any patches on the right sleave at all. I didnt notice the jackets they had last time i was down there this past june. When i bought mine i got it for half price thanks to a coupon in the Huntsville times at the time.

This is the counselor jacket summer 2010. When I worked the summers of 2009 and 2010 every counselor got the sweater and jacket. Sitting in MOCR/orbiter was always cold so I'd always be in my jacket on the sim floor

thats what they looked like in 07 as well. I was diusapointed we didnt get the chaance to get one when i worked there because i had seen them before and wanted one then was told nope summer hires didnt get them. Part of it may also have been we were all hired as AC and we early on in training the counselors who were cross training from space side were told they werent to be worn when working AC so that may also have had something to do with it.

Nice jacket, Laura !! Much better than what the gift shop/Sprocket is putting out now. The ones with the black collar look so cheap. The jacket you have looks similar to the jacket the Space Camp Hall Of Famers get.

I bought one this summer and it is similar to Laura's except the patches are a little different. I think it looks good.

USCSS Nostromo wrote:I bought one this summer and it is similar to Laura's except the patches are a little different. I think it looks good.

Yeah, I'm sure that's the jacket I saw. I was hotter than a frying pan when I was there, so the idea of buying one was tempered by the fact it was so hot I couldn't imagine needing any jacket for a very long time, (that, and I'd spent too much in the gift shop already) so I didn't buy one. I'm looking to sell some NASA stuff on eBay and if I get enough money from that, I'll buy one of these jackets. Other than the patches being at least partially glued in place, they looked good to me.
They're also now on the SC store website (must have just been added as I searched this heading last week and they weren't there): http://www.spacecampstore.com/S-C-Aviat ... 506BLU4AL/

SC's web store had a 20% off sale last week, so I ordered one of the camp jackets, just got it yesterday, an early Christmas present to myself. It's a darned good jacket, I like it very much. Can't wait to finally get my mission patch so I can put it on this jacket. It is the same jacket the staff wears...

Nice wish i had that style. Mine was one of the generic NASA jackets same tyoe seen here except the patches and no place for a name tag.

Boomerang wrote:Nice wish i had that style. Mine was one of the generic NASA jackets same tyoe seen here except the patches and no place for a name tag.

Be warned, I had some pretty bad problems with mine. Read this before you order one: http://habforum.hab1.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2502

If I can find it and take a picture I have one of the baby blue jackets from the 80's.

rkolker wrote:If I can find it and take a picture I have one of the baby blue jackets from the 80's.

They're really rare, as I'm unaware of any other copies of that jacket that got made, so many space collectors buy them to put earlier Shuttle mission patches on them. I'd love to get my mitts on one that would fit...