Four Tareyton cigarettes and their original package, flown aboard Schirra’s six-orbit Sigma 7 flight on October 3, 1962. These cigarettes, along with a nip bottle of Cutty Sark were placed aboard Schirra’s capsule by fellow astronaut Gordon Cooper and Indy car racer Jim Rathman, as a practical joke. The package of cigarettes had been trimmed down to one row due to space considerations. As the story goes, Cooper and Rathman concocted the idea to play a joke on Schirra by having Cooper smuggle the cigarettes and whiskey aboard the capsule prior to liftoff. They were stashed in the back of a compartment of an instrument panel, and were discovered by Schirra while in the midst of his historic flight. It is reported that Schirra drank the scotch after arriving on board the USS Kearsarge. Accompanied by a 2007 letter of provenance from Jo Schirra stating “The Tarryton [sic] cigarettes accompanying this letter were flown aboard the historic six orbit mission of Sigma 7.” She goes on to quote Wally directly “Before I flew on Sigma 7, Gordon Cooper and Jim Rathman … arranged to put a miniature, airplane catering sized, bottle of Cutty Sark Scotch and one row of Tarryton [sic] cigarettes way in the back of a compartment in the instrument panel … I drank the Scotch as soon as I had a chance on board the recovery carrier. The medics all wondered why I had a small alcohol level in my post flight blood tests! I guess a nicotine level would have really thrown them!” Also accompanied by a letter of provenance from Jim Rathmann, recounting the story of the practical joke. A one-of-a-kind relic, being the only known space-flown tobacco products, enhanced by the fact they were part of a practical joke played on Schirra, a notorious prankster himself. RRAuction COA.
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