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Flown Series 1953C two-dollar bill, serial number A77446053A, carried aboard the Gemini 3 spacecraft Molly Brown, crisply signed in bold red felt tip, "Gus Grissom, GT-3" and "John Young, 3-23-65." Encapsulated and graded by PMG as "Choice Very Fine 35," with the label noting the provenance: "Ex. Grissom & Young / Flown Aboard Gemini III, 1965 / Jefferson Space Museum Collection."
Complete with its original certificate, also signed in ink by Gus Grissom and John Young, in full: "This is to certify that the currency with the serial number A77446053A did as a matter of fact accompany 'Gus' Grissom & John Young on their three orbit flight, March 23, 1965, in the Gemini Space Craft 'Molly Brown.' Accomplishing the 'Free World's' first two-manned space venture." Also includes an image of John Young holding the bill more than 40 years later, after being reunited with it during a Novaspace signing.
This note is part of the well-documented group of currency clandestinely carried aboard Gemini 3, famous as part of Gus Grissom's 'gotcha' prank on the ground crew. Three members of the McDonnell Douglas launch crew—with Gus Grissom’s permission—stowed fifty $2 bills and forty-one $1 bills behind the spacecraft’s instrument panel prior to launch. During the mission, Grissom famously swapped the real currency with play money while in orbit, leaving the ground crew initially puzzled when they recovered the capsule. A few weeks after the flight, Grissom returned the genuine flown notes to the crew, signed by both astronauts. McDonnell inspector Don Wagner then designed special certificates to record their flight status, and the mementoes were quietly distributed to Cape Canaveral personnel. The episode, and a complete list of the bills' serial numbers, is recorded in Relics of The Space Race by Russell Still.
The Richard Jurek Collection.
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