When you imagine the gear NASA packs for space missions, you probably picture high-tech marvels: zero-gravity toilets, robotic arms, and a laptop duct-taped to a wall. But nestled among the cutting-edge gadgets and million-dollar equipment is something surprisingly down-to-earth, a humble Swiss Army Knife. Astronaut Chris Hadfield wrote about the benefits of a Swiss Army Knife in space in his book 'An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth'. In 1995, he couldn't get into the Mir space station using the usual equipment because the doors had been sealed too tightly, so he relied on his trusty Swiss Army Knife to gain access. "Never leave the planet without one," he said.

Hadfield was writing about an incident that took place in the 1990s, but the history of NASA and Victorinox Swiss Army Knives goes back further than that. While the rest of us might have problems taking a Swiss Army Knife onto a regular aircraft, astronauts have been bringing the iconic multi-tool on space missions for almost fifty years.

In 1978, NASA purchased 50 Master Craftsman Swiss Army Knives from Victorinox. A letter to Victorinox from NASA's Communications Manager stated, "These knives will be aboard the Space Shuttle Orbiter as part of crew equipment." Starting in the mid-1980s, Victorinox began producing the Astronaut model of the Swiss Army Knife, which was functionally identical to the Master Craftsman. During the same period, they also released a special edition Shuttle Master Craftsman featuring an inlaid image of a space shuttle on the top scale."