I am glad this thread got back on track.

There is allot to cover.

The handle seems to be of concern and here is my take. The beveled edges, which they all had by the way, are irregular, which is not atypical, so I do not see anything out of the ordinary for the period when this knife was made. You will notice on the reverse side the handle bevels are also a bit exaggerated at the rear of the handle as they are at the grip on the obverse (logo) side. This leads me to believe Mr. Salvo received it this way from RMK.

Blade material. None, I repeat, none of the knives delivered to NASA were stainless steel. They were Rhodium plated carbon steel. This has been covered several times on this forum over the years. The search button can be your friend. The Salvo knife does not appear to be Rhodium plated, but it is difficult to tell for sure without the knife in hand.

Stainless versions of the Astro were not available until a few years later, and I don't recall ever seeing one with brown micarta scales. This knife is a Solingen blade by the way, another clue to the non-stainless composition.

The “sway back” blade is actually pretty common on early Solingen 18’s of both blade lengths, so it is not too surprising to see this in the Astro.

Sheaths were requested with the NASA survival training knives. The Salvo sheath - a Johnson - was IMO delivered with this knife. It is a stock sheath so not a big deal. As I stated previously, I don't know if this is one of the actual knives delivered to NASA for survival training, but may be one made available to support staff, NASA officials, and/or those in some way affiliated with the program in some fashion. It would seem Mr. Salvo falls into one or more of those categories.

I would suggest that anyone that wants a bit more information on the Astro to thoroughly read the portion of Gaddis devoted to the subject. I think that would answer many of the doubts and questions posed here. I would not over scrutinize this piece "looking" for things that probably don't exist. It is a very early Astro of the first type, simple as that.