Kate's Blog: The Parachute Space Bag
Written by Kate Mitchell
As the Artemis test flight capsule splashed down on November 16th 2022, we watched our bright orange NOMAR parachute bags in action. We had been contracted by NASA to build the bags; they needed to be large enough to hold the giant parachutes that deployed and gently brought the flight capsule to rest in the Pacific Ocean. While we call them our space parachute bags, they don’t actually visit space (only the parachutes do). From the orbit testing phase to the moon landing, our NOMAR-made parachute bags will be part of the Artemis project’s story. Like all things at NOMAR, there is history to the parachute bag…
This XXL parachute bag is large enough to hold a parachute attached to the Artemis capsule.
The story goes back twenty years or more, the Alaska Air National Guard was in Homer training. They were jumping out of a C130 into our very cold Kachemak Bay. It was a blustery spring day when four guys came into NOMAR and explained their predicament. What the government had issued as a parachute bag didn’t work for “wet storage”; they needed a water bag. So, NOMAR designed and built our first few parachute bags for them. In our minds, it was a one-time solution for an Alaskan kind of problem.
The NOMAR original "Bag Lady" with the same size parachute bag designed for the Alaska Air National Guard.
However, when duty rotation time came, each of these men were deployed to other stations where they then recommended our NOMAR parachute bag as a useful solution to stow parachutes. The NOMAR parachute bag eventually made it all the way down to Patrick Air Force Base where NASA is also located. When NASA saw our label on the parachute bags, they contacted us and the rest is history. Over the years, we’ve designed and built various products for their test facilities.
In 2026, there will be a manned test flight but the moon landing itself is scheduled for 2027. Sometimes we’re unsure how our bags will be used; this time we will know where and how! Pretty exciting for a little shop at the end of the road.
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Kate's Blog: Every Story has a Beginning
Before I was even born, long before my Coast Guard career, or my first little shop in Ketchikan, or the school bus shop in Homer…
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Simple question, not so simple answer. People who visit our retail store only see the beautiful, well-made bags and clothing that we produce, so the name seems a little strange.
Let me tell you the story.
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