PRESIDENT HARRY S TRUMAN - DOCUMENT SIGNED CO-SIGNED BY: FIRST LADY BESS W. TRUMAN - HFSID 155763

HARRY S TRUMAN and BESS W. TRUMAN
The former President and First Lady sign a copy of astronaut Frank Borman's famous Christmas Eve prayer from lunar orbit, to which a first day of issue Apollo 8 stamp has been affixed.
Printed Document Signed: "Harry Truman" and "Bess W. Truman", 1 page, 11x8. Headed: "A Christmas Eve Prayer From Lunar Orbit/December 24, 1968". Six-cent Apollo 8 stamp affixed, postmarked Houston, Texas, May 5, 1969, FIRST DAY OF ISSUE, the eighth anniversary of the first U.S. manned flight by Alan Shepard. Reproduced are astronaut Frank Borman's prayer and the portions of Genesis read by astronauts Borman, James Lovell and William Anders as Apollo 8 began its last orbit around the Moon. Eight weeks after this stamp was issued, on June 28, 1969, Harry and Bess Truman celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.The U.S. space program has its roots in the Truman administration. In 1946, Project Bumper gave the United States much needed experience in the handling and design of large rockets and involved launching captured German V-2 rockets. The Hermes Project, the first major U.S. ballistic missile program, was based at Fort Bliss, Texas. German scientists led by Wernher von Braun tested many rocket components and concepts. The Hermes Project laid the groundwork for what was to come. After Hermes ended in 1950, von Braun and his team moved to the Redstone Arsenal near Huntsville, Alabama to work for the Army Ballistic Missile Agency. In 1946, the Rand Corporation had first proposed a military satellite system. From the Rand recommendations, the Air Force initiated Operation Feedback in April 1951. This program researched the possibility of using satellites for military observation and other purposes. Operation Feedback was the first US military satellite program. Slightly yellowed edges. Fine condition.