Now At: $1,000 (1 bid)
Next Bid: $1,100
The 30 Minute Rule begins April 17 at 7:00 PM EDT. An Initial Bid Must Be Placed By April 17 at 6:00 PM EDT To Participate After 6:00 PM EDT
Scott Carpenter’s personally-owned and -used flight plan for the Mercury-Atlas 7 mission, the fourth crewed flight of Project Mercury, which cemented Carpenter as the sixth human to fly in space when he piloted his Aurora 7 spacecraft around the Earth three times on May 24, 1962. The stapled manual, 40 pages, 8 x 10.5, stamped “For NASA Internal Use Only” and entitled “Flight Plan for MA-7/18, NASA-MSC, Langley Station, Hampton, Virginia, May 1, 1962,” is signed on the front cover in black felt tip, “My copy – Scott Carpenter.” Issued as “Copy 251.” the manual consists of four main ‘MA-7 Flight Plan’ sections — Launch Phase, First Orbit, Second Orbit, and Third Orbit — and an additional 17 reference sections related to mission specifics like “Communications,” “Precision Attitude Hold,” “Balloon Experiment,” “Star Observation and Haze Layer Check,” “Photographs,” and more.
The manual’s preface reads, in part: “The pilot's primary responsibility during this mission is flight control and flight safety. His secondary responsibility is scientific experimentation and observation designed to further evaluate the spacecraft systems and to broaden our understanding of the space environment and man's role in this environment. The MA-7/18 Flight Plan is organized to guide the pilot in carrying out the mission objectives and the individual experimental objectives. The reference sections of this document describe the flight test activities and their objectives…This is a final publication of the MA-7/18 Flight Plan.” The manual bears a few handwritten notations, and the front cover is marked in an unknown hand: “May 2000, Working copy, MSC book.” In fine condition.
A remarkable in-house NASA document deriving from the personal collection of Aurora 7 pilot Scott Carpenter, whose historic space flight into low Earth orbit was not without its share of controversy. A series of missteps, compounded by a malfunctioning pitch horizon scanner, forced Carpenter to control his reentry manually. As a consequence, the Aurora 7 missed its landing area broadly and Carpenter, no worse for wear, was left to float alone in his life raft for nearly an hour before recovery vehicles arrived on the scene.
This item is Pre-Certified by STEVE ZARELLI
Buy a third-party letter of authenticity for
$25.00
*This item has been pre-certified by a trusted third-party authentication service, and by placing a bid on this item, you agree to accept the opinion of this authentication service. If you wish to have an opinion rendered by a different authenticator of your choosing, you must do so prior to your placing of any bid. RR Auction is not responsible for differing opinions submitted 30 days after the date of the sale.
