Poster, NASA, Manned Flight Awareness

This poster depicts an egg on top of a crate. On the crate is the NASA label for spacecraft components in transit, “Critical Space Item / Handle with Extreme Care.” The main text reads, “Another Carton of Space Eggs,” and points out the NASA shipping label that identifies the contents as critical. Astronaut Wally Schirra implores the viewer to help ensure safe handling of spacecraft parts.

During the Apollo program, people produced components at companies around the United States and in a few foreign countries. To assemble the giant Saturn V rockets and Apollo spacecraft, and ensure the safe return of the astronauts, NASA needed to ship spacecraft parts safely. It was imperative that each part arrived without damage.

NASA’s Manned Flight Awareness, a program begun in 1963, and later renamed Space Flight Awareness, created posters to enhance employee motivation for job quality and flight safety within NASA and its contractors.