Mock-Up of Moon Suit in Action

In the late 1950s, Allyn B. Hazard, a development engineer in the Missile Engineering Section of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, envisioned a twelve-man expedition to the Moon and designed prototypes for an integrated space suit and moon mobile for the lunar explorers. The barrel-like suit weighed 200 pounds and carried within it life-support systems including food, water, a radio, and a tiny stove. When Hazard left NASA to join the Aerojet General Corporation, he took his designs with him and created a physical prototype of the suit. In this photograph, released by Aerojet, Hazard himself models the suit on a California sidewalk. Thanks to Aerojet’s publicity efforts, the Lunar Exploration Space Suit Mark 1 quickly captured the public imagination. It was featured on the cover the April 27, 1962 issue of Life Magazine, as well as in Boy’s Life, Air Force Magazine, and other publications. In 1966 Mattel introduced an astronaut toy, Major Matt Mason, sporting a scaled replica of the suit and driving the moon mobile.