Description :

The astronauts got all the glory, but the folks who created and manned Mission Control were equally important. This lot looks a bit more at those folks.

HIGHWAYS INTO SPACE – A FIRST-HAND ACCOUNT OF THE BEGINNINGS OF THE HUMAN SPACE PROGRAM by Glynn Lunney. Softcover. 2014 – first edition (this appears to be self-published, but is of very high quality). Lunney was best known for being the flight director who helped save the Apollo 13 mission from disaster. This is his personal memoir on the space program’s development. Book is in like new condition – appears not to have been read. Note that the author talks about Gerry Griffin who signed the letter in the lot - shown is the index. 

Pair of rulers from the two main space centers; Johnson in Houston and Kennedy in Cape Canaveral. The former is plastic with all missions through Skylab 3 listed, the latter is plastic with the original 7 astronauts listed.

Vintage pink Kennedy Space Center mug – we are guessing early 70s given the typeface.

THE MEN BEHIND THE ASTRONAUTS by Wayne Hyde. Hardcover. 1965, Dodd Mead & Co (New York NY) 128 pages. Ex-library book. History of the folks working behind the scenes in the space program in the early years. Good used condition.

3 NASA-related buttons.

The last item is a fan letter written to Gerry Griffin of Mission Control.  He was the Apollo Flight Director at Mission Control who served in that position during all manned Apollo missions and later went on to Space Center Directorship. He signed and returned the letter to the writer – we believe this is authentic as both the original letter and his signature don’t show pixels and vary in stroke/hue under magnification. You can also see the note through the reverse side.