Wonderful assemblage of NASA Operations badges from thirteen Mercury missions, ranging in size from 2 x 2.75 to 4 x 2.5, with each badge denoting a successful manned mission signed by its respective pilot in ink or ballpoint: "Alan B. Shepard," "Virgil I. Grissom," "Best regards to Carl and many thanks—J. H. Glenn, Jr." "M. Scott Carpenter," "Go for 6! Wally Schirra," and "Gordon Cooper." Other mission badges include: Mercury-Redstone 1A, Mercury-Redstone 2, Mercury-Atlas 2, Mercury-Atlas 3, Mercury-Atlas 4, Mercury-Scout 1, and Mercury-Atlas 5. All badges are affixed to a light blue 23.5 x 19.5 hand-embellished cardstock display mount bearing an affixed certificate of participation presented to Carl R. Huss, "a member of the team which launched the first American Astronaut, Lt. Col. John H. Glenn, Jr., USMC, into orbit around the earth." In fine condition, with mild foxing to certificate and adhesive remnants to top left edge of mat. Carl Huss was a Retrofire Controller during the Mercury program, who used these badges to access the Block House at Cape Canaveral. As a flight dynamics officer, Huss drew up abort plans and was responsible for determination of retrofire times, actions which played a major role in figuring out when Mercury astronauts should fire retro or reverse rockets to bring them out of orbit. His decisions greatly affected the proximity between splashdown sites and recovery ships. Huss was also instrumental in bringing John Glenn back safely from his Friendship 7 flight after the decision was made to not jettison the retropack. A magnificent grouping of all Mercury astronaut autographs on a decidedly uncommon format.
This item is Pre-Certified by STEVE ZARELLI
Buy a third-party letter of authenticity for
(inquire for price)
*This item has been pre-certified by a trusted third-party authentication service, and by placing a bid on this item, you agree to accept the opinion of this authentication service. If you wish to have an opinion rendered by a different authenticator of your choosing, you must do so prior to your placing of any bid. RR Auction is not responsible for differing opinions submitted 30 days after the date of the sale.
We use cookies on this site to improve your experience. By using this site, you accept our use of cookies. To learn more, please see our Privacy Policy.
