Sold For $1,188
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Attractive display containing a flown heat shield segment from the capsule of the Gemini 11 mission, which launched on September 12, 1966, and made history when it performed the first direct-ascent (first orbit) rendezvous with an Agena Target Vehicle. The artifact, 1.75˝ x 1.25˝ x .75˝, is encased in an acrylic display designed to resemble a Gemini capsule, 5.5˝ x 4.25˝ x 4˝, with the base engraved with text, “Heat Shield of Gemini #11, Rendezvous in 1st Orbit, Pete Conrad, Dick Gordon, 9-13 Thru 9-16, 1966.” In fine condition, with trivial scuffing.
Accompanied by a letter of authenticity from the son of the original recipient, Dr. Joseph John Combs, Jr., who served as a medical director on NASA’s Project Gemini being conducted at McDonnell Aircraft in St. Louis, Missouri. “Dr. Combs was focused primarily on the biomedical recorders, and more specifically on ECG (cardiac) recordations to record heart rate during prolonged exposure to zero-G. As such, he interacted closely and daily with the Gemini astronauts, attaching and removing biomedical recording leads and interviewing them about perceived effects of induced space conditions…Dr. Combs became personal friends with many of the astronauts…I hereby certify and attest that the space memorabilia in the collection being auctioned are the real and actual articles gifted to my father, Dr. Combs, by the Gemini astronauts during the time my father served as a medical director at McDonnell Aircraft in the 1960s.”
