Remembering Cece Bibby, NASA's Mercury capsule artist (pictures)

by CNET News.com  |  November 15, 2012, 5:00pm PST  |  Image 1 of 16

Remembered as a pioneering female artist with a feisty sense of humor, Cecelia "Cece" Bibby, who designed the mission insignia and hand-painted the capsule for the United States' first manned orbital spacecraft in 1962, died yesterday. She was 84.

Bibby worked with three of the Mercury astronauts, hand-painting custom designed logos for astronaut John Glenn's "Friendship 7," Scott Carpenter's "Aurora 7," and Wally Schirra's "Sigma 7" Mercury capsules. Her designs were not only part of history making spaceflights, she also blazed a trail for women in the men-only world of NASA in the early 1960s, getting a front-row seat to history while becoming the first woman to work on a rocket gantry.

Image 1 of 16

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