This periscope lens gave Alan Shepard his best view outside his small Mercury spacecraft. Shepard had a small screen in front of him on the control panel which gave him the view as seen through this lens. The lens has two magnification settings, high and low, which provided 80- and 1,900-mile fields of view during his 15-minute flight.
The lens was transferred from NASA to the Museum as part of the Freedom 7 spacecraft in 1961.
This object is on display in James S. McDonnell Space Hangar at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA.