By far the most downloaded images from Yunchtime are the astronaut and cosmonaut photos from the 1960 edition of Das Bildbuch der Weltraum Fahrt that I picked up in Vienna. So I thought I should scan a few more. This series features the extreme temperature tests conducted on U.S. spacesuits during the 1950s, and an astronaut getting the feel for handling the controls from his rocket seat. The rubber gloves don’t look especially good for handling those knobs and switches, and the fact that the astronaut is stretched out like Plastic Man just to reach the controls shows you the state of ergonomics in those days. The greatest thing about the rocket seat photo are the pilot’s lace-up shiny leather shoes. DOH! Mission Control, do you read? I left my space boots in the locker at Canaveral, over!

If you’re into this sort of thing, check out our friends at SpaceFacts. And some miscellaneous galleries: Appollo Mission Photos, NASA images, Today in Space History.