Astronaut Scholarship Foundation

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Lot 12: "On the Way to Apogee" Gemini Canvas Signed by Richard Gordon

This beautifully printed, Gemini 11 full-color canvas is a custom showpiece created by astronaut Bruce McCandless exclusively for the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation. It has been autographed by Gemini 11 Pilot Richard Gordon with his mission "GTA-11" and the inscription, "On the way to Apogee."

The 23 x 28" canvas shows a composite of two NASA photographs, S66-54677 and S66- 54678, taken by Gemini 11 Commander Charles "Pete" Conrad during flight. McCandless painstakingly combined the two photos to create this full rendering of the Indian Subcontinent and Sri Lanka, seen by the Gemini 11 astronauts as their capsule passed by on the way to a record 860 mile height, or apogee, of its orbit of the Earth. The image also shows the curve of Earth's horizon, the blackness of space beyond and in the foreground, the boom antenna of the Agena Target Vehicle.

Gemini 11 was the first mission to perform a direct-ascent rendezvous with an Agena Target Vehicle. Once docked, Conrad and Gordon used the Agena's rockets to propel them into their record-setting altitude, sending them "on the way to apogee."

The canvas has been handsomely mounted and framed and is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity signed by Astronaut Scholarship Foundation Executive Director Linn LeBlanc.

ASF reserves the right to disqualify the high bidder, to reject the high bid, and to accept a bid from a lower bidder, for any reason within their discretion, which shall be exercised in good faith.

Bid History

Bidding on this lot concluded on March 15, 2013 at 10:00 PM EDT.

Bidders: 13 Bids: 31 Winning Bid: $761

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