CHARLES A. LINDBERGH "Lucky Lindy" talks about flying Jennies and why he dislikes reunions, ceremonies and dinners. TLS: "Charles", 1p, 8½x11. Germany, 1963 March 19. To Joe. On blue light-weight stationery. In full: "This is an awfully late answer to your January letter. My mail is always hopelessly stacked up, literally, and I have taken taken (sic) some of it abroad with me in the hope of catching up a bit at least with the letters I want most to write. It is really good of you to invite me to the reunion of the 110th Observation Squadron, and I do have a very close feeling toward the Squadron -- I often think of the old days flying 'Jennies' at Lambert Field. But Joe, I think reunions are for those who like them (and may God bless them). To me, reunions are pretty awful; they always detract from qualities of memory which I prefer to leave to the past where I think they belong and have the greatest value. Also, I like to live quietly and to concentrate on my work and interests. I realized, many years ago, that this kind of life was simply not compatible with ceremonies and dinners, for one led to another and there seemed to be no end. read more...

ORVILLE WRIGHT. Photograph signed: "Orville Wright". B/w, 6¼x4½ overall, image 5x3¼ (one surface). Captioned at lower margin: "First Man-Flight, December 17, 1903/Kitty Hawk, N.C." Orville Wright (1871-1948) and his brother, Wilbur (1867-1912), made aviation history with their Flyer in Kitty Hawk, on North Carolina's Outer Banks, on December 17, 1903. While the Wrights had been testing their gliders on Kill Devil Hill for a number of years, this was their first test of their motorized, heavier-than-air flying machine. At 10:35 a.m., Orville Wright was at the controls of the 21-foot biplane with the 40.3-foot wingspan. The 605 pound craft, powered by a 12-horsepower engine that had four piston cylinders and revved to 1,090 rpm, left the ground, staying aloft for 12 seconds and covering 120 feet at an altitude of ten feet. Later that day, during one of their three test flights, Wilbur also manned the controls, traveling 852 feet in 59 seconds. In 1905, Wilbur and Orville decided to stop flying and tried to market their machine, first offering it to the U.S. government and then flying it in France. read more...

MERCURY 7 ASTRONAUTS A Salute to Project Mercury by America's Original Space Pioneers Comprises: (1) Photograph signed: "Scott Carpenter", "Gordon Cooper", "John Glenn", "Wally Schirra", "Alan Shepard" and "Deke Slayton". B/w, 10x8. Official NASA photo. Fine condition. (2) Commemorative Envelope signed: "Virgil I. Grissom", 6½x3½, honoring Project Mercury, 7-cent U.S. Air Mail stamp affixed, postmarked Port Canaveral, FLA., July 21, 1961. He has also penned: "7:20 EST". Fine condition. GUS GRISSOM signed and revised the facts of his July 21, 1961 "Man Shoot No. 2" on this commemorative cover; during this mission, he manned the Mercury-Redstone 4 Liberty Bell 7 and became the second American in space. The event occurred only two months after the Project Mercury team successfully launched a man into space and safely returned him to Earth. ALAN SHEPARD became the first American hurled into space during his flight aboard Mercury's first manned capsule, the Mercury-Redstone 3 Freedom 7, on May 5, 1961. read more...

CHALLENGER STS-51L: FRANCIS R. "DICK" SCOBEE, MICHAEL J. SMITH, RONALD E. "RON" McNAIR, ELLISON S. "EL" ONIZUKA, JUDITH A. "JUDY" RESNIK, GREG JARVIS and CHRISTA McAULIFFE Official NASA photograph of the crew of the ill-fated Challenger mission STS-51L. Challenger exploded in midair on January 28, 1986, making it the deadliest accident in NASA history until the destruction of the Columbia in 2003. This rare photograph contains the signatures of all seven crewmembers of STS-51L, who are shown in flight suits and holding their helmets. All seven people in this photo perished in the Challenger disaster Inscribed Photograph signed: "Dot - Best Wishes" (unknown hand),"El Onizuka", "S. Christa/McAuliffe", "Greg Jarvis", "Judy/Resnik", "Mike Smith", "Dick/Scobee" and "Ron McNair". read more...

CHRISTA McAULIFFE Seven year old Christa Corrigan, who would grow up to be ill-fated "Teacher in Space" Christa McAuliffe, completed and signed with pencil this school worksheet in 1955. Accompanied by NASA photo of McAuliffe and by Challenger mission decals Document signed: "Christa Corrigan/September 29, 1955"" in pencil, 1 page, 8½x11. Elementary school mimeographed worksheet, with answers circled by her in pencil and figures colored by her in crayon. Teacher's check marks in red ink show McAuliffe's successful completion of each part of the worksheet. Accompanied by: Color 8x10 official NASA photograph of McAuliffe in mission uniform and 2 decals, one each of the Challenger-51 mission and of the Teacher in Space project. Sharon Christa McAuliffe (born Carrigan,1948-1986), attended public schools in Framingham, Massachesetts and graduated from Framingham State College. Marrying high school sweetheart Stephen McAuliffe, she taught junior high school in Maryland (1970-1978) and Concord, New Hampshire (1978-1979) and high school in Concord (1980-1985) before being selected (over 113 other semi-finalists) as the primary candidate for the NASA Teacher in Space Project on July 19, 1985. read more...

CHARLES A. LINDBERGH Rare Air Mail Service Contract signed twice by the Aviation hero. Contract signed twice: "Lindbergh" as Pilot, 1 page, 8½x7. Springfield, Illinois, 1926 June 2. An Air Mail Service Contract saying Lindbergh flew ship number 111 on Route number 2 southbound. Lindbergh served as chief pilot for the Contract Air Mail Route #2 (CAM-2) which he laid out himself. The Route provided mail service between St. Louis and Chicago, with stops in Peoria and Springfield. Charles A. Lindbergh (1902-1974) made the first solo, nonstop transatlantic flight from Roosevelt Field, Long Island to Le Bourget Field, Paris, France on May 20-21, 1927, flying his Ryan NYP Spirit of St. Louis aircraft. The flight took 33½ hours. Lindbergh was awarded the 1954 Pulitzer Prize for Biography for The Spirit of St. Louis. Although Lindbergh's later life was beset by tragedy - the kidnapping and murder of his infant son (1932) - and controversy - his opposition to U.S. preparations to enter World War II - "Lucky Lindy" remains among the greatest of American heroes. Toned. Horizontal fold. Paperclip stain at top center. Pencil marks (unknown hand) not affecting signatures. Lightly creased. read more...

ORVILLE WRIGHT Orville Wright signed this document in 1945 to lease 135 acres of farm and pastureland that he owned in Indiana. This document was signed three years before Wright's death and offers a look into how he paid his bills late in life. Lease signed "Orville Wright" as Lessor. 2 pages, 8½x12¾, single-sided sheets, bound with two staples at top edge. Feb. 6, 1945. Wright signed this lease agreement to lease 135 acres of farm and pastureland in "Township 23 North", Indiana [possibly Fowlerton] to Clayton W. Dickerson of Jonesboro, Indiana. The lease's term was from March 1, 1945, to Feb. 28, 1946. Dickerson leased the farm - which included improvements like an orchard, garden lot and barn - for $6 per acre or a total of $810, paid in full to Wright on Sept. 1, 1945. This lease also laid out Dickerson's responsibilities. In short, he had to maintain the land and its buildings out of his own pocket and pay one-half the cost for seed and fertilizer and for threshing and hulling any crops, with Wright paying the other half. Wilbur (1867-1912, born near Millville, Indiana) and Orville (1871-1948, born in Dayton, Ohio) formed the Wright Cycle Company in 1892 and manufactured bicycles. read more...

NEIL ARMSTRONG Two years before his first spaceflight, and five years before he set the first human foot on the moon, Armstrong fills out a flight plan, preparing to pilot a NASA jet from Ohio to Texas. Document signed twice: "N. A. Armstrong", 1 page, 8x12¾. Port Columbus, Naval Air Station [Ohio], 1964 June 25. Department of Defense flight aircraft clearance form. Details filled in by another hand, including mileage, transponder code, and equipment, but Armstrong has penned this notation: "Request radar vector climb on course." Armstrong plans to pilot a T-33 ("Shooting Star") aircraft from Port Columbus to Ellington Air Force Base in Texas, by way of Dayton. The co-pilot is J. F. Stegall, another NASA employee. Civilian Neil Alden Armstrong (1930-2012) had entered the U.S. space program as a senior NASA research pilot in 1962. A fan of aviation from the age of nine, Armstrong had his pilot's license by the age of 16, and, after studying aeronautical engineering at Purdue for two years, went to Pensacola, Florida for Navy flight training. Serving in Korea at the age of 21, Armstrong flew 78 combat missions and won three Air Medals. read more...

ABOUT HIS ROCKET TO THE MOON. ROBERT H. GODDARD. Historically Important TLS: "R.H. Goddard", 1p, 8¼x11. Clark College, Worcester, Mass., 1921 March 7. To William L. Straus, Jr., Baltimore. On stationery listing Goddard and C.E. Melville as Professors in the Department of Physics of Clark College. In full: "In reply to your letter of March 3, I might say: 1) The work at present is confined to the construction of a small model and there is no immediate prospect of financing anything more than this. 2) Regarding your second question, I admit that there is no oxygen in the atmosphere on the moon, but beg to call attention to the fact that any of the commercial flash powders contain an oxygen-carrying compound, which is usually potassium chlorate. The experiment which has been given considerable publicity took this fact into account, the flashes being exploded in a glass container in which the pressure had been reduced to about 1/60 of atmospheric pressure." Goddard began experimenting with rockets in 1908, when he demonstrated that rockets could operate in a vacuum. In 1914, Goddard received two U.S. patents. One was for a rocket using liquid fuel. The other was for a two or three stage rocket using solid fuel. read more...