Jim's picture could be deceiving but I'm thinking there was a period where the Astro had a spear point blade shape.....could be wrong. But the bottom line is the current Astro with that funky little "point or tick" as I call it is not a replica of the original Astro. That was the point of the Astro.....to give the Randall lovers a replica of the knife the Mercury Seven carried.

Also there was a reason for the hump and the large size of the guard. The hump was to provide protection when or if the astronaut had to insert the knife between a strap and his space suit. The hump would push the suit cloth down away from the blade and then the sharp blade could cut a strap or whatever needed to be cut. I can't remember where I read that but like Ragu.....it's in there.

The original poster said "fairly close replica". There is no way to take a current Astro and make an exact replica..... no more than taking a current knife in any model and "duplicating" a 50+ year old knife.

I admire his craft and industry....

You could say the same thing about WW2 fighters.... most had humps.... but for a brief period in 1943 when it disappeared ... then it came back.

These humpless fighters are rare as hell.......

Does that make the humpless fighters less authentic...?

Here is an early 1943 fighter.... no hump.

PLEASE FORGIVE THE HIJACK..........

What are you arguing about Mitchell.....you posted photos that pointed out what I was saying about the hump.

I am not arguing Ronnie......nor am I raining on the original poster's project.

Dang Mitchell. I'm loving that fighter and sheath and all the braided leather.

Thanks Tom, it's my new favorite ...... Until the next one!!!

Ronnie,

My photo is not deceiving. Here is the Randall paperweight that clearly shows the narrow double hilt and no "hump" in the blade.

Here is a photo of an early 1960's Astro - no hump!

Jim--

I remember when that NASA Mercury program knife came up for sale on Ebay....I wanted it so badly but too rich for my blood. I was always curious, it appears that handle curves upward....is that just an optical illusion?