HAROLD BROWN - PHOTOGRAPH MOUNT SIGNED - HFSID 299285

HAROLD BROWN; [EDWARD WHITE II]
13¾x10¼ color photo of ill-fated astronaut Edward White, with his wife, receiving the US Air Force Space Trophy from Brown, Secretary of the Air Force. Brown has inscribed the photo to the Whites on the 18x14½ matboard. This photo was in the White's personal estate.
Photograph Mount signed: To Ed and Pat White, with highest esteem, warm personal regards, and every good wish./Harold Brown/Secretary of the Air Force. Color, 13¾10¼, matted to 14½x18. Photo: Joseph J. Scherschel of National Geographic. Physicist HAROLD R. BROWN (b. 1927) was Director of Defense Research and Engineering under Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara (1961-1965), and then Secretary of the Air Force (1965-1969) He was Secretary of Defense in the Carter administration (1977-1981), the first scientist to occupy the post. As Secretary of Defense, he sought to balance the President's goals of cost-cutting and arms limitation with new weapons procurement (such as the go-ahead for "stealth" technology) and new strategic doctrines, notably the controversial Presidential Directive 59 (planning for limited nuclear war against the Soviet Union). EDWARD H. WHITE II (1930-1967) was named as a member of the astronaut team selected by NASA in September 1962. He was pilot for Gemini IV, which was a 66-revolution, four-day mission that began on June 3 and ended on June 7, 1965. Photography of Earth terrain was a primary mission objective. During the third revolution, White carried out the first extra vehicular activity (EVA) in the U.S. manned space flight program. He was outside Gemini IV for 21 minutes, and became the first man to control himself in space during EVA with a maneuvering unit. On March 21, 1966, he was named as one of the pilots of the AS-204 mission, the first 3-man Apollo flight. White, Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee died on Jan. 27, 1967 in the Apollo spacecraft flash fire during a launch pad test at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. This photograph comes from Ed White's personal estate. Photograph lightly worn with surface damages at edges. Mat worn and soiled. Otherwise, fine condition.