Beschreibung:

FLOWN ON APOLLO 10 – Large United States flag. The fastest flown flag in space and human history, signed and inscribed by Thomas STAFFORD across the lowest white stripe: "Flown to the Moon on Apollo X." [With:] Thomas STAFFORD's signed provenance letter, reading: "Accompanying this letter is one of the largest United States flags ever taken to the Moon. I carried this flag on the flight of Apollo X during May 18 to 26, 1969. I was commander of this mission with John Young serving as Command Module Pilot and Gene Cernan was Lunar Module Pilot. Apollo X was a dress rehearsal for the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission that occurred just two months later during July 1969. Apollo X proved that all the lunar landing flight techniques were actually possible to achieve. Our flight and mission profile were identical to those of Apollo 11, except for the actual lunar landing. Our Lunar Module, code name Snoopy, approached to within 50,000 feet of the lunar surface before Gene and I separated from the descent stage and used Snoopy’s ascent stage engine to return to John in the Command Module named Charlie Brown. We then used Charlie Brown's large rocket engine to leave lunar orbit and put us on a trajectory to return to Earth. During our flight home, we reached a speed of 24,791 nautical miles per hour or the equivalent of 28,528 statute miles per hour. No other Apollo crew matched or exceeded this speed, therefore John, Gene, and I have traveled faster than any other human. And of course no other flag carried on any other space mission has matched or exceeded the speed attained by this flag during the flight of Apollo X." Silk flag, 11.5 by 18.25 inches. [With:] Photograph of John Young holding a drawing of Snoopy. All archivally matted to 12.5 by 19.5 inches.