14 DAY TRIAL // Was 007 ready to hit the orbit? So it would seem, at least according to the latest find made in an abandoned storage space of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, nearby the Kennedy Space Center, as reported by Irene Klotz for BBC online.
Following some maintenance works, a real "cache" was discovered in one of the decommissioned buildings around the air base, containing all sorts of junk, collected in over 40 years of space flight. Amongst these, the fire marshals inspecting the place found numerous film canisters, electronic equipment and even a used tire from the main landing gear of a space shuttle.
But the most interesting discovery was that of 2 blue space suits, one of them bearing the number 007, and the other the number 008 and the name "Lawyer" in capital letters, on one of the sleeves.
Actually, this was the key to the whole mystery. "Lawyer" turned out to be Lt. Col. Richard Lawyer, one of the first astronauts selected by the Air Force to participate in the MOL (Manned Orbiting Laboratory). The MOL program, which was initiated in 1963, had the purpose of putting spies in orbit, using for this purpose a modified Gemini capsule, allowing the two crewmen to remain in space for periods up to one month.
But the program has been cancelled in 1969, because "The Department of Defense never found a good reason to fly people in space", said Roger Lanius, head of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum's space history department.
It's not yet clear how the two MH-7 training suits landed in the abandoned building, but it is very likely that at least one of them will be an exhibit of great interest within Kennedy Space Center's own visitor center museum, even though it will probably be only a replica or one of the other 22 suits of this type still existing, because the originals must first undergo a thorough decontamination process.