Space Exploration

[Mercury Program]

Flight Maps signed by 3 of the Mercury 7

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Lot Closed

July 15, 02:11 PM GMT

Estimate

4,000 - 6,000 USD

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Lot Details

Description

[MERCURY PROGRAM]

Gridded area map of Cape Canaveral, showing over a dozen launch pad complexes, including Launch Pad 14 used for all crewed Mercury Atlas launches. 11 by 20½ inches in size with two folds SIGNED and INSCRIBED by SCOTT CARPENTER.

Mercury Orbit Chart MOC-4. Color Earth map, USAF Aeronautical Chart and Information Center for NASA, June 1962, 8½ by 33 inches. INSCRIBED and SIGNED: "The Six Orbits of Sigma 7, WALLY SCHIRRA" along the lower center. ADDITIONALLY INSCRIBED and SIGNED in the Pacific Ocean west of South America with: “I have lift-off, the clock has started! WALLY SCHIRRA.”

Mercury Orbit Chart MOC-6, 1st Edition. Color Earth map, USAF Aeronautical Chart and Information Center for NASA, February 1963, 10½ by 35½ inches. INSCRIBED and SIGNED along the top center border: “Boy, what a view from up here, Surprises you every orbit. Cape Canaveral, Orbit 18. GORDON COOPER.” Additionally INSCRIBED and SIGNED: "The 22 Orbits for Faith 7, Gordon Cooper" along the lower center border.

LAUNCH PAD AND FLIGHT ORBITAL MAPS SIGNED BY THREE OF THE ORIGINAL SEVEN

Project Mercury's goal was to put a man into Earth orbit, and was the U.S.'s first human spaceflight program, running 1958-1963. The charts in this lot are signed and annotated by three of the first seven NASA astronauts: SCOTT CARPENTER, WALLY SCHIRRA, and GORDON COOPER.

Part of Mercury Launch GO or NO-GO decisions included analysis of wind direction and speed to predict where the Mercury spacecraft would land during early abort plus the direction of falling rocket debris.

All six orbits of the Mercury Atlas 8 flight are plotted with circles representing the ground coverage foot print of the Mercury world-wide tracking stations. Schirra has inscribed the date and time of his launch near the Cape Canaveral area of the chart with: "7:15 am, 3 Oct '62" and his flight time "9 hr 13m" near the splashdown bull's eye close to Midway Island in the Pacific Ocean.

All 22 orbits of the Mercury Atlas 9 flight are plotted with circles representing the ground coverage foot print of the Mercury world-wide tracking stations. Cooper has inscribed the date of his launch near the Cape Canaveral area of the chart with: "Launch – 15 May 63" and his splashdown site designation and date: "Splashdown @ C-22, 16 May 63" near the splashdown bull's eye close to Midway Island in the Pacific Ocean.