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Two flown halves of Series 1963 two-dollar bills, cut at diagonal angles, with the right sides carried on board the Gemini 5 mission and presented to long-time NASA pad leader Guenter Wendt. Both bills were signed on the portrait side in black felt tip before being cut, one signed “Dollar Down, Dollar on Departure, Gordon Cooper GT-5,” and the other signed “Dollar Down, Dollar on Departure, Charles Conrad, Jr., GT-5.” All four pieces are affixed to a black sheet and framed with a small envelope labeled by Conrad, “To Guenter Wendt from L. G. Cooper, C. Conrad Jr., GT-5, 1 ea. one dollar down,” to an overall size of 11 x 14.25.
Also included is a handwritten note by Wendt which reads, “Split two dollar bills. Got one half on day of flight & other half after return. Right sight [sic] of bills has flown.” In fine condition.
Gemini 5 launched into space on August 21, 1965 for an eight day mission—the longest space flight up to that point on record. The goal of the long duration flight was to prove out the ability of humans to live and work in space for the length of time necessary to conduct a lunar mission. Despite a few mechanical failures with the craft, the overall mission was a grand success. This would prove to be Commander Gordon Cooper's last space flight. For pilot Charles 'Pete' Conrad, however, this was his first space flight and his career was just beginning: he would go on to command the Apollo 12 lunar landing mission, and later, command the first manned Skylab mission.
Guenter Wendt was a German-American engineer who worked for McDonnell Aircraft Corporation and North American Aviation, and who served in the US space program as the Pad Leader—the man in charge of close out crews at the launch pads for the entire Mercury and Gemini programs, as well as for all the manned phases of the Apollo program, including ASTP. A favorite of the astronauts, Guenter was often the last human they physically interacted with before launching into space.
These $2 bill halves represent a humorous homage to the original NAA tradition of using a dollar bill to flight certify an astronaut's mission. During the early flights, a bill would be signed, torn in half, and then rejoined with its other half at the end of the mission to prove that the astronaut who launched was the same astronaut who landed. In this case, the tradition appears to be one more of good luck charm—making a down payment before flight, and returning the other half upon splashdown.
The Richard Jurek Collection.
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