NASA Apollo AV7L Beta Cloth American Flag - Real!

Description

This is the real deal. This is not from a commemorative set. This is an actual prepped for use Apollo era American flag as used on the AV7L spacesuits and the fenders of the Lunar Rover. This has the blue cut lines around the edges and the stiffening agent on back.
Size is ~ 9" x 6.9". Print area is ~ 4" x 6"
Beta cloth is a type of incineration resistant teflon-coasted silica fiber cloth used in the Apollo era for space suits, and other specialized applications. It was implemented in NASA space suits after the deadly 1967 Apollo 1launch pad fire, in which the astronauts' nylon suits burned through. After the fire, NASA demanded any potentially flammable materials were to be removed from both the spacecraft and space suits. Beta cloth was developed by a Manned Spacecraft Center team led by Frederick S. Dawn and including Matthew I. Radnofsky working with the Owens-Corning and DuPont companies.
Overall very clean. Slight toning from age. Yellow stiffening agent on perimeter of rear typically seen on beta patches prepared for use. This patch has a fray mark on the center starting on the 4th red stripe down.