James Lovell's Gemini 7 Constant Wear Garment

Constant Wear Garment (CWG) made for Gemini 7 Pilot James Lovell, stipulated as flown on the mission by the consignor, whose mother received it while working in Cornell University’s Nutritional Science Department. The off-white cotton one-piece garment features two pockets to chest area, with one bearing a sewn-on parts tag: “Underwear, Pressure Suit Assembly, NASA Designation GU-5C, Mfg. David Clark Company, P/N A-2481, Serial No. 501, Size Lovell, September 1965.” The garment has multiple openings and attachments at midriff to integrate the communication belt, equipment for collecting urine, and the biomedical instrumentation belt; additionally, the lower section also features snap fasteners to waist and thighs, and sequences of small metal clasps to blue strips running down the length of both legs. In very good to fine condition, with expected signs of use and age, including scattered green staining and the crotch/underside of garment noticeably torn. Originates from an employee at Cornell University’s Nutritional Science Department who worked under Dr. Leo Lutwak during the mid-to-late 1960s. Lutwak served as a principal investigator in a metabolic study centered around the Gemini 7 astronauts and how their bones and muscles would react during periods of weightlessness.
For the 14-day Gemini 7 mission, both Frank Borman and James Lovell wore modified G3C suits, later designated as the G5C suit, that incorporated additional zippers for in-flight adjustment and provisions for potential complete removal of the suit. The development of this lightweight, easily removed G5C enabled Lovell to become the first American astronaut to take off his pressure suit in a spacecraft, and to more comfortably perform his duties wearing only the CWG.
Borman was also eager to doff his cumbersome silver space suit, but wary flight managers insisted that the astronauts alternate their time out of the suit. On December 12, after witnessing all the sweat, inconvenience, and telemetry that showed higher blood pressure for a suited crew member—the temperature inside the crew cabin had risen to roughly 85°F (29°C)—ground control relented and allowed both astronauts to strip down to their CWGs. Biomedical data collected during the flight later confirmed that astronauts would be more comfortable during Apollo lunar flights in a shirt-sleeve environment.
Lovell’s thoughts on the Gemini 7 wardrobe situation:
‘Gemini 7 had some different suits than all the rest of the Gemini flights, mainly because we were not going to go outside the spacecraft, and for a two-week mission, we had to figure out a suit that might be a little bit more comfortable. It was what we call a 'get-me-down suit,' and it was really cut into a sitting position, so that when it was inflated, you'd be sort of in a sitting position. We took off, of course, for a two-week mission and the first thing we thought about was that ‘these suits are nice, but let's get out of them.’
At that time, you know, management down below were overly, overly cautious about getting out of space suits, and they didn't want us to get out. Well, they zippered down the back and soon after I was airborne, I unzippered the thing and pretty soon I had my butt sticking out the back-end and then a little while later my back was sticking out. Frank kept calling down and saying, ‘Can we get out of the suits,’ and they wouldn't let poor Frank out of the suit; they finally let me out for a test. I guess I was expendable. So, for three days Frank stayed in the suit, and finally they let him out. And, of course, we flew the rest of the flight in our long johns underwear, and my grand-kids always say that I spent two weeks in my underwear around the Earth.’