After seeing the controversy surrounding the new movie about Neil Armstrong, "First Man" where they leave out the planting of the American flag...I revisited the Model 17 Astro thread. I don't quite understand your post Capt Chris when you state

" were an improved version of the more subtle design on earlier models. The purpose was to afford an extremely "safe" usage with the Astronaut's "Space Gloves" on. They could press down on the back spline and the front "notched area" would prevent their gloved hand from slipping down on the tip.
Hope this helps, Capt. Chris"

I thought the catalog Astro was made as a Replica of the original knives used in project Mercury. Your statement seems to indicate that research and development is still going on with this knife. Is NASA planning on using this knife in future manned missions?

I too would have thought that Randall would have kept to the original look of that early 1960's Astro with the contoured top clip. It seems odd that it seemed to evolve in design when it was catalogued as a Replica.

In the 1985 catalog it seems to have that "harpoon" look to the top spine. Then in the 1988 catalog the term "replica" was dropped. It's just interesting that it was offered as a Replica of the knives that made history, but they continued to evolve. I guess it makes those early ones that people own more special.