Edward White, Roger Chaffee and James McDivitt Autographs From Collection of Henry Van Goey NASA Vandenberg Administrator on the back of a Farmers and Merchants Bank check. The astronauts were on a training mission in the car with Henry Van Goey, who asked them for their autographs. There was no paper in the car, so Van Goey pulled out a blank check. White and Chaffee signed in blue ink and McDivitt signed in Sharpie. The back reads "To Kim, Best Wishes, Edward H. White, Roger R. Chaffee, James A. McDivitt. To be humorous, McDivitt also signed his name on the front of the check as the payee. Some folds and slight tears on the edges, but the autographs are strong. A perfect candidate for two sided glass frame. Ex: the Henry Van Goey collection. Henry Van Goey was a NASA Administrator at Vandenberg Air Force Base from 1965 to 1980, working as the chief of the Western Launch Operations Division for unmanned launch operations, primarily Delta rockets. A graduate of Purdue University, Van Goey began his career by testing Sparrow Missile rocket engines at the Naval Weapons Center at Point Magu. He then went to work in Texas while the Johnson Space Center was being built, but decided he did not like the weather. He transferred to White Sands, where he helped design a launch gantry for the Little Joe program and tested the emergency escape systems for Mercury and Apollo capsules. He then transferred to Vandenberg, the NASA facility where Delta rockets were used to launch communication, weather and science satellites into orbit. Van Goey and his team relocated the gantry built at White Sands over to Vandenber's Space Launch Complex 2 for use in launching these Delta rockets. Van Goey worked on 79 launches, earning him NASA's Exceptional Service Medal in 1976.
Images
Click on thumbnails to see larger images:
Additional lots in this auction
Similar lots up for auction
Auction details
Aurora Summer 2008 Sess 3 Space Aviation
9:00 AM PT - Jul 26th, 2008
offered by
Aurora
30 Hackamore Lane
Bell Canyon, CA 91307
Bell Canyon, CA 91307



