Artist’s Talent Broke into the All-Male World of Pad Operations

By Bob Granath

In early 1962, preparations were underway for John Glenn’s historic flight as the first American to orbit the Earth. He named his Mercury spacecraft “Friendship 7,” and he wanted the illustrator who created the design for the logo to paint it on his capsule. In doing so, artist Cecelia Bibby stepped into what was otherwise an all-male domain.

For the previous two Mercury missions with astronauts aboard, Alan Shepard named his spacecraft Freedom 7. Gus Grissom followed with Liberty Bell 7. Both names were painted on the capsules by a mechanic using simple white, block letters.

Glenn wanted a more elaborate colorful script design for Friendship 7. The assignment went to Bibby, who was a 33-year-old artist working for NASA contractor Chrysler Aerospace. Her supervisor explained what Glenn wanted, and her boss believed a woman’s handwriting would be better than that of a man. When Glenn liked her design, he requested she hand paint the name directly on the spacecraft as it stood atop an Atlas rocket enclosed in the gantry at Cape Canaveral’s Launch Complex 14.

Her supervisor initially objected to Bibby doing the job. When Glenn asked if there was a problem, the astronaut was told the artist was a woman. Glenn further inquired if she had a fear of heights or was physically handicapped in any way. The Chrysler supervisor confirmed she was neither, but women were not allowed on the launch pad towers. Glenn made it clear. He wanted the artist to paint the name on the capsule. Bibby recalled that her boss returned to her office and told her that Glenn approved her design, but he was not happy.

Bibby was sent to the launch pad to inspect and measure the area on the capsule she would paint. When she arrived in the White Room surrounding the Mercury capsule at the top of the launch pad gantry, she was greeted by Pad Leader Guenter Wendt. He worked for McDonnell Aircraft, the spacecraft’s prime contractor. He was in charge of all operators at the launch site, especially around the Mercury capsule. He quickly told her that women were not allowed in the White Room.

Undaunted, Bibby informed Wendt that he would have to take it up with John Glenn who assigned her to the task. She went on in and made the needed measurements. She created a template to transfer her design to the spacecraft, later returning to paint “Friendship 7” on the side of the capsule. In doing so, she became the only woman to make her way up the gantry to the White Room during NASA’s Mercury Program.

Glenn lifted off, taking Bibby’s Friendship 7 artwork to space and successfully completed three orbits on Feb. 20, 1962 – Bibby’s 34th birthday.

Other Mercury astronauts liked Bibby’s style and work so much she was asked to paint Aurora 7 on Scott Carpenter’s spacecraft and Sigma 7 on Wally Schirra’s capsule. Carpenter completed three orbits on May 24, 1962 and Schirra circled the globe six times on Oct. 3, 1962.

Bibby’s interest in art began at an early age in spite of a difficult childhood. Her father died when she was three. She and a brother lived with their mother for six years before the two children were moved to a children’s home in Covina, California. After that, she never saw her mother again.

Bibby said, while growing up she used crayons for almost everything. She simply knew she wanted to be an artist. The people operating the children’s home always encouraged her, making sure she had any art supplies she needed.

After graduation from high school, Bibby attended an art school. While there, she worked as an operator for a local telephone company. In that job, she frequently placed telephone calls from scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena to engineers at the Banana River Test Site, later becoming Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The work there sounded fascinating to her.

When Bibby saw a job posting for a draftsman with the RCA Missile Division at Patrick Air Force Base near the Cape, she applied. In the new job, she begin producing drawings for facilities at the various downrange tracking stations. She later transferred to the publications department to develop art for engineers working at the Cape.

Bibby eventually moved to a position with Aerospace Corporation at Cape Canaveral where she developed illustrations for concepts based on the future of space flight, such as space shuttles and space stations. In 1959, she accepted a position working for Chrysler as an artist in the NASA Publications office. Among her assignments in that role, Bibby became the astronauts’ go-to person for painting spacecraft names on Mercury capsules.

In late 1962, Bibby returned to California for a new job, but soon returned to Cape Canaveral just after the end of the Mercury Program. She continued working there during Project Gemini and the Apollo Program.

In 1970, she married an officer in the U.S. Navy and traveled to exotic locations around the world before settling in the small North Georgia town of Blue Ridge. In her later years, Bibby enjoyed showing off some of her art that supported NASA space programs at shows, often reuniting with astronauts from early space missions. Bibby died in Blue Ridge on Nov. 14, 2012, at the age of 84.

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