Aviation and Space Exploration Autographs and Memorabilia Gift Ideas

WALTER M. SCHIRRA One-piece Flight Training Suit worn by Wally Schirra as he trained for the Apollo 7 space mission, accompanied by a typed letter of authentication signed by the astronaut. Comprises: (1) TLS: "Walter M. Schirra", 1 page, 8½x11. Rancho Santa Fe, California, 2002 May 3. To Who it may concern. In full: "I, Walter Schirra, attest to the fact that this is my original Flight Training Suit, worn by me while training for the Apollo 7 space mission." Fine condition. (2) The one-piece light blue training suit worn by Schirra. Zips completely down the front and has two original patches: Schirra's U.S. Navy leather ID patch on its right and the colorful cloth Apollo 7 patch on its left. There are a number of small circular oil stains on the seat, otherwise, the suit is in fine condition. Apollo 7 was the first manned flight of the Apollo spacecraft, with astronauts Walter Schirra, Jr., Donn Eisele and Walter Cunningham aboard. The primary objectives of the Earth orbiting mission were to demonstrate Command and Service read more...

WERNHER VON BRAUN He signed this typed letter in German in 1961, accepting congratulations from a German reporter, with a postscript written in his hand Typed Letter signed: "Wernher von Braun", 1 page, 8x10½. Huntsville, Alabama, 1961 October 30. On letterhead of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center to Miss Gerty Agoston, New York, N.Y. In German, translated in full: "Hearty thanks for your letter of Otober 13th, 1961, as well as for your kind invitation to the German Press Club's 75th anniversary. I regret thoroughly that I can't attend the planned festivities because I have other duties, but don't want to miss at least writing to forward my best wishes and congratulations for the German Press Club's 75th year celebration. Also regrettably I have not seen you in the Coliseum myself. I was pleased to learn that you attended the symposium and reported about it thoroughly. It can certainly be arranged that you and some other journalists occasionally may visit the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center. Please contact directly the director of our Public Information Office, Captain Bart Slattery to discuss details about a possible visit. With best wishes for a pleasurable evening at the 'Berlin', with obliging greetings. You". read more...

GHERMAN TITOV 3½x4¾ black and white photograph signed by the Russian cosmonaut Photograph signed: "Titov" in Russian. B/w, 3½x4¾. Gherman Titov (1935-2000) was the second Soviet cosmonaut in space, aboard Vostok 2, and the first to spend more than one day in space (August 6-7, 1961). Serving in the management of the Soviet space program until his retirement in 1992, Titov was later elected to the Russian legislature, where he strongly advocated continued space exploration. Fine condition. read more...

WILBUR WRIGHT and HOWARD W. GILL Wright signs a $200 check to Howard W. Gill, who endorses it. The colorful Gill, a member of the Wright ExhibitionTeam, would die in a mid-air collision at an air race less than one year later. Check filled out and signed: "Wright [B]rothers/W.W.", 6¼x2¾. Endorsed: "Howard W. Gill". Dayton, Ohio, 1911 October 11. Drawn on The Winters National Bank, payable to Howard Gill for $200.00. At the time of this check, the Wright Brothers were in the midst of a lawsuit against Glenn Curtiss. On September 13-14, 16, 1911, four weeks earlier, Wilbur had submitted depositions in New York in The Wright Company v. The Herring-Curtiss Company and Glenn H. Curtiss patent suit. Four weeks after this check, on November 4, 8-9, 1911, Wilbur and Orville experimented with and flew a Curtiss airplane in Dayton, to gain familiarity with the control mechanisms which they claimed infringed the Wright patents. In 1914, almost two years after Wilbur's death, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals of New York rendered a decision in favor of the Wright company in its suit. read more...

ALEXANDER P. DE SEVERSKY. Photograph inscribed and signed: "To Thomas R. Pitts/with my best wishes/Alex P. de Seversky/10-10-64." B/w, 8x10. Russian air ace in World War I, de Seversky (1894-1974) came to the United States in 1918 and founded the Seversky Aircraft Corp. (forerunner of Republic Aircraft), manufacturing pursuit planes, notably the P-47. Member of the National Aviation Hall of Fame, de Seversky invented various airplane devices including a bombsight. His book advocating reliance on strategic bombing to win World War II was turned into an influential Disney documentary film in 1943, with Severesky in a starring role. Fine condition. read more...

THE ORIGINAL SEVEN PROJECT MERCURY ASTRONAUTS: SCOTT CARPENTER, GORDON COOPER, GUS GRISSOM, JOHN GLENN, WALLY SCHIRRA, ALAN SHEPARD and DONALD K. SLAYTON All but Grissom have signed a group photo in space suits. The signature of the ill-fated Grissom on a separate sheet is framed with it in the Gallery of History style. Collection comprised of: (1) Photograph signed: "Alan/Shepard", "Gordon Cooper", "W M Schirra", "D K Slayton", "John/Glenn" and "Scott Carpenter". B/w, 4¾x4¾ overall, image 4½x3½ (one surface). Captioned at lower margin. Fine condition. (2) Signature: "Virgil I. Grissom", 3½x1¼. Fine condition. The seven space pioneers who signed this Project Mercury envelope were chosen by NASA in April 1959 as the first American astronauts. read more...

AL WORDEN Color official NASA publicity photograph shown sitting behind a miniature of a space craft. Photograph inscribed and signed: "To Arthur -/With Warmest/Personal Regards/Al Worden". Color, 8x10. Official NASA photograph. Mimeographed caption on verso. Taken at the Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas in May 1966, the month after Worden was among the 19 astronauts selected by NASA. Alfred Merrill "Al" Worden (1932-2020) was serving in the U.S. Air Force when he was among the 19 astronauts selected by NASA in April 1966. A member of the astronaut support crew for Apollo 9 and the backup command module pilot for Apollo 12, Worden was the command module pilot for Apollo 15 (July 26-August 7, 1971). He logged 38 minutes of EVAs outside the "Endeavor". Worden was later President of Maris Worden Aerospace, Inc. and Vice President of BF Goodrich Aerospace (Bucksville, Ohio). Slightly creased at blank corners. Minor surface creases (not evident head on), 1 at facial image. Fine condition. read more...

WALTER HINTON: FIRST TRANSATLANTIC FLIGHT. Comprises: (1) TLS: "Walter Hinton", 1p, 7x9. Washington, D.C., 1929 November 14. To Herbert D. Condon, Logansport, Indiana. In full: "Enclosed you will find the signature you asked for and a little note written on a piece of the original fabric taken from the wings of the NC4, the first plane to fly across the Atlantic." Lightly creased. Overall, fine condition.(2) Typed Statement signed: "Walter Hinton", 1p, 4½x6½. In full: "This is a piece of the original fabric/taken from the wing of the seaplane NC4,/the first plane to fly completely across any/ocean having made the first trans Atlantic flight in May 1919". Soiled, lightly stained. Creased. "Pilot of NC4" is typed beneath Hinton's signature. In May 1919, Walter Hinton was the co-pilot of the U.S. Navy's NC-4, one of four Navy Curtiss flying boats built during WWI to provide patrol cover for American shipping in the Atlantic against German U-boats. The NC-4, with a crew of six, left Rockaway Beach, Queens, New York City on May 8, 1919 reaching Portugal on May 27, 1919 in the first crossing of the Atlantic by air. read more...

AMELIA M. EARHART and OTHERS The female aviator and dozens of authors signed this sheet of paper that's framed! Signature: "Amelia M. Earhart", 8½x11 album leaf titled: "Autographs of Authors and Poets visiting The Halle Bros. Co. Book Fair, October 15 to 20, 1928". Complete List of Signers: "Marjorie Barkley McClure", "Edmund Vance Cooke", "Lou Untermeyer", "Edwin Meade Robinson", "Whiting Williams", "Buffalo Child Long Lance", "Robert J. Casey", "Clara E. Laughlin", "Elmer Davis", "Mc Cready Huston", "Meredith Nicholson", "W.B. Seabrook", "Padraic Colum", "Henry Turner Bailey", "Honore Willsie Morrow", "Delia J. Akeley", "Dorothy Aldis", "James Abbott", "Maud Lindsay", "James A. Braden", "Johnny Gruelle", "John Norton read more...