Opening Day Auction Closing May 9th
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/10/2015
Astronaut Gordon Cooper shot this original color photograph negative during the Gemini V flight, and has signed its original envelope in black marker. The color negative shows Cooper's view of the planet Earth from inside the Gemini spacecraft, of which he was Commander (the Pilot was Charles "Pete" Conrad). Cooper was among the "Original Seven" (along with John Glenn, Scott Carpenter and Wally Schirra) who was chosen to lead the U.S. into space. The historical Gemini 5 mission, which took place August 21 - 29, 1965, established a new space endurance record at the time, traveling 3,312,993 miles in 190 hours and 56 minutes. Cooper also became the first man to make a second orbital flight and thus won for the United States the lead in man-hours in space by accumulating a total of 225 hours and 15 minutes. The negative measures approximately 2.75 x 2.5 and the envelope (dated January 3, 1966) measures 7.5 x 5.5.