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Flown Series 1963 one-dollar bill, serial number L48115031B, carried on X-15 Flight 138 with USAF Captain Joe Engle on June 29, 1965—reaching an altitude of 53.1 miles (having entered the USAF's definition of space at 50 miles up) and reaching a top speed of 3,431 mph—signed and flight-certified on the portrait side in black ballpoint, "Taken into Space, 284,000 feet, 29 June 1965, Joe Engle, Capt. USAF, X-15." Encapsulated and graded by PMG as "Very Fine 25," with the label noting the provenance: "Ex. Norman B. Foster / Flown Aboard X-15 Flight 138, 1965 / Jefferson Space Museum Collection."
This is the only known pilot-certified flown dollar bill to appear on the market from the X-15 program, carried on Flight 138—one of only thirteen X-15 USAF designated space flights. The pilot, Joe Engle, carried it as a favor for Norman Foster, an executive with the David Clark Company, which manufactured high altitude space suits and hardware in support of the X-15, X-20, F-40, XB-70, and YF12/SR-71 programs.
Accompanied by a handwritten letter of provenance from Foster's grandson, in part: "My grandfather, Norman Foster, was very involved with the high altitude projects in the 50's and 60's. He became very good friends with all the pilots. At the time, he was the field representative for the David Clark Co., which were providing pressure suits & helmets for the projects. Their lives were in his hands, so to speak. The last few years of my grandfather's life, I would visit him and he would tell me stories of the times with the pilots, going out for drinks after a test flight to celebrate, and how he became good friends with people like Neil Armstrong, Pete Knight, Joe Engle, Al White—really, all the guys from the X-15 project….so he used to tell me, 'When I die, you'll have all this.' So, when he passed, I inherited all kinds of stuff…[including] the dollar bill."
In 2017, the flown bill was reunited with retired Maj. General Joe Engle at SpaceFest in Tucson, Arizona. Engle immediately recognized both the bill and the story, and re-affirmed the story as told by Norm Foster to his grandson. According to Engle, Foster helped suit him up the day of his flight. As they were finishing, Foster put the bill in Engle's pocket and asked him to fly it. While something like that could never happen today with a NASA mission, back then, it was a more common occurrence. Includes a certificate of authenticity signed by Engle, plus photos of him with the bill and certificate.
The Richard Jurek Collection.
This item is Pre-Certified by STEVE ZARELLI
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