Alan Bean's Manned Flight Awareness medallion honoring the STS-1 mission, 1.5˝ in diameter, with the front showing the raised mission insignia, facsimile signatures of John Young and Bob Crippen, and the date, "April 1981," and the reverse stating: "Thank you for your contribution toward making the world's first orbital flight of the Space Shuttle STS 1 possible. We would like you to have this memento made, in part, of metal taken from the Columbia." In very good to fine condition, with scattered wear and tarnishing.
Accompanied by a signed certificate of authenticity from Bean, who writes: “I hereby certify that this bronze medallion, minted with metal removed from the Space Shuttle Columbia, STS-1, following its maiden voyage, is part of my personal collection. This treasured artifact has been displayed in my art studio since the day I acquired it. I remember watching the early morning launch of Columbia from Cape Canaveral, ‘a right stuff’ witness to the beginning of a new era in space travel. A few months later I resigned my position as a NASA Astronaut, beginning a new era in my own life, space explorer artist.”
