RONALD E. McNAIR - COMMEMORATIVE ENVELOPE SIGNED CO-SIGNED BY: CAPTAIN ROBERT L. "HOOT" GIBSON, JOSEPH P. ALLEN - HFSID 51574

RONALD E. McNAIR, ROBERT L. GIBSON and JOSEPH P. ALLEN
All three astronauts sign this envelope honoring the Space Shuttle Columbia, postmarked on the 10th anniversary of the first manned landing on the moon
Commemorative Envelope signed: "Ron McNair", "Robert L. Gibson", "Joseph P. Allen" 6½x3½. Special Cover released on the 10th anniversary of the Apollo XI moon landing, bearing a cachet featuring a space shuttle in orbit. Postmarked Downey, California, July 20, 1979. 15¢ U.S. flag stamp affixed. Special cancellation denotes "Downey - Home of the Spaceships Columbia, 1969-1979." Physicist RONALD McNAIR (1950-1986) was selected as an astronaut in January 1978. He first flew as a Mission Specialist on the space shuttle Challenger (STS 41-B), which was launched from Kennedy Space Center on February 3, 1984 and featured the first untethered "walk in space" by Bruce McCandless. After logging 191 hours in space on that mission, McNair was one of the seven crew members killed when the Challenger (STS 51-L) exploded 73 seconds after liftoff on January 28, 1986. Navy pilot ROBERT L. "HOOT" GIBSON (b. 1946), who was selected by NASA in January 1978 and became an astronaut in August 1979, has participated in five space shuttle missions: Challenger (STS 41-B), February 3-11, 1984, which made the first landing on the runway at the Kennedy Space Center, Columbia (STS 61-C), January 12-18, 1986, Atlantis (STS-27), December 2-6, 1988, Endeavor (STS-47), September 12-20, 1992, the 50th space shuttle mission, and, Atlantis (STS-71), June 27-July 7, 1995, which was the first space shuttle to dock with the Russian space station Mir. Gibson also served as Chief of the Astronaut Office (December 1992-September 1994) and Deputy Director, Flight Crew Operations (March-November 1996) before retiring from NASA. Nuclear physicist JOSEPH P. ALLEN (b. 1937) was part of the support crew for the Apollo XV lunar mission. He was a Mission Specialist on two space shuttle flights: STS-5 (Columbia), the first full operating flight of the vehicle in November 1982; and STS51-A (Discovery), a successful space salvage mission. Allen has also served as NASA's liaison with Congress and executive of private space research firms. Slightly creased at corners. Ink notes (unknown hand) on verso. Otherwise, fine condition.