LT. COLONEL ELLISON S. "EL" ONIZUKA - COMMEMORATIVE ENVELOPE SIGNED CO-SIGNED BY: CAPTAIN DANIEL C. BRANDENSTEIN, COLONEL FREDERICK D. GREGORY, JAMES D. A. VAN HOFTEN - HFSID 177981

SPACE SHUTTLE ASTRONAUTS: ELLISON ONIZUKA, JAMES VAN HOFTEN, FREDERICK GREGORY AND DAN BRANDENSTEIN
Four shuttle astronauts, including one who died aboard the Challenger, sign an envelope commemorating a wind tunnel test of the launch vehicle
Commemorative Envelope Signed: "Ellison Onizuka", "James van Hoften", "Frederick Gregory" and "Dan Brandenstein" 6½x3½. Envelope bearing ink stamp cachet commemorating a wind tunnel test of the space shuttle, 13¢ stamp affixed. Postmarked Moffett Field, California, November 24, 1976. Typed caption gives test details. ELLISON ONIZUKA (1946-1986), an Air Force test pilot before becoming a NASA astronaut in 1978, flew aboard Discovery 51-C, January 24-27, 1985, the first shuttle mission with military objectives. Ironically, Challenger was scheduled for Mission 51-C, but thermal tile problems forced substitution of Discovery. Onizuka's next assignment was aboard Challenger 51-L, January 28, 1986, which exploded 73 seconds after liftoff, killing him and his six colleagues. JAMES "OX" VAN HOFTEN (b.1944), a civil engineer, logged 336 hours in space after becoming an astronaut in 1978. He made a 7-hour space walk during the second of his two Shuttle missions. FRED GREGORY (b.1941) was the pilot of Challenger 51-B (1985) and the commander of Discovery STS-33 (1989) and Atlantis STS-44 (1991). DANIEL BRANDENSTEIN (b.1943) was pilot on Challenger STS-8 (1983, the first mission with a night launch and night landing) and commander of Discovery STS-51G (1985),Columbia STS-32 (1990) and Endeavor STS-49 (1992). With the completion of his fourth flight, Brandenstein logged over 789 hours in space on four different shuttles. Fine condition.