Sold For $405
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McDonnell contractor's model of the Mercury capsule with its attached escape rocket, measuring 9.5˝ long, set on a 5˝ diameter base representing Earth's northern hemisphere; the underside bears a “Topping, Inc.” label. In very good to fine condition, with light overall scuffs to the base, and a missing rung piece and a crack to the lower portion of the escape rocket.
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.”
