Vintage ballpoint signatures, “Edward H. White II,” “Gus Grissom,” and “Roger B. Chaffee,” on the reverse of one of Don Chaffee‘s Rapids Realty Company business cards, dated in the upper left by Don Chaffee, “8/25/66,” the day the signatures were obtained.
Accompanied by a 1986 letter of provenance from Don Chaffee, reading, in part: “Enclosed is my signed business card…I signed it on the front and our Apollo one boys signed it on the back, the date was Aug. 25, 1966…This was the last time I saw the boys alive. I remember the afternoon we four were sitting around a table drinking beer and telling jokes when I said—’How about you guys signing these three cards for me as you might be the first on the moon?’ So we just slid them back around the table. I put the date up in the corner later that same evening in our room.”
Mild toning to edges and a paperclip impression and light creasing to right edge, otherwise fine condition. Chief astronaut Deke Slayton had wanted one of the Mercury astronauts to be the first man on the moon, and Slayton, along with other NASA officials, had intentions for Grissom to be the selection. Unfortunately, Grissom, along with his Apollo 1 crew members, perished in a flash fire during a plug-out test on January 27, 1967. Pre-certified Steve Zarelli and RR Auction COA.
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