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Flown Series 1963 one-dollar bill carried on Gemini 5 as part of its official certification process, serial number L99107836B, emblazoned "Aboard Gemini 5" at center, and signed in black felt tip by the prime crew, "Gordon Cooper" and "Charles Conrad, Jr." Also signed in the lower right corner by the National Aeronautics Association certification official, "Walter Wentz." In very fine condition.
During the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs, the National Aeronautics Association (NAA), working in conjunction with the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) in Paris, certified official world records for spaceflight. Before advanced telemetry could reliably verify flight altitude, duration, and speed, a unique verification method was used on crewed missions: U.S. dollar bills were carried aboard spacecraft to confirm the identities of the astronauts on board.
Prior to launch, the serial numbers of these bills were recorded and the notes were placed aboard the spacecraft. After recovery, the bills were presented to a certifying official, who compared their serial numbers with the pre-flight records to satisfy the identification requirements of the FAI Sporting Code. These flown bills were therefore not carried as souvenirs, good-luck charms, or personal mementos like other pieces of flown currency; instead, they served a specific historical and functional role in the formal certification of each mission.
Gemini 5 attracted extraordinary official and international media attention because it marked the first time the United States surpassed the Soviet Union in a major spaceflight world record. The mission’s eight-day flight set a new duration record, and the formal verification process conducted by the NAA was closely followed by the press. The identification bills used in the process were widely photographed and reported in newspapers and magazines around the world. NAA official Walter Wentz, who oversaw the certification for Gemini 5, was even featured on the popular television program To Tell the Truth, appearing with this very dollar bill.
Gemini 5 was the third crewed Gemini mission, the eleventh crewed American spaceflight (including two X-15 flights above 100 kilometers), and the nineteenth human spaceflight overall. Launched in August 1965, the mission established a new world record for spaceflight duration on August 26, surpassing the Soviet Union’s previous record set by Vostok 5 in 1963.
This lot is accompanied by a substantial personal archive from Walter Wentz, preserved within his own briefcase. Highlights include a carbon copy of the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation inventory sheet documenting the placement of this bill aboard the capsule; a scrapbook containing an original vintage press photograph of Wentz with Cooper and Conrad as they sign the bills, a letter written by Wentz to his parents aboard the recovery ship USS Lake Champlain on “Recovery Day, GT-5,” and numerous contemporary news clippings related to the flight.
Also included is a color glossy 10 x 8 photograph of Wentz observing the Gemini 5 crew entering the spacecraft, signed and inscribed in black felt tip: “To Walt, With best wishes, I hope you can give us $2.00 again even if we have to give it back. Pete, Charles Conrad, Jr.” and “Gordon Cooper.”
Additional materials include various slides and negatives, Wentz’s identification badges, carbon copies of his correspondence related to the mission, and other associated ephemera.
The Richard Jurek Collection.
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