Gordon Cooper (left) The "Original Seven" Mercury astronauts. From left: Scott Carpenter, Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard, and Deke Slayton. photo credit: NASA
FAITH 7: Flown $2 Bill
Launch Date: May 15, 1963 | Splashdown Date: May 16, 1963
About the Provenance
Purchased at auction directly from the Cooper Family Estate. Bill is flight certified on its face, and is accompanied by a handwritten note by Cooper attesting to its flight status.
About the Bill
This large paper US $2 note was flown inside Gordon Cooper’s flight suit pocket aboard Faith 7, the last flight of the Mercury Program, and the longest US manned space flight at that time. It was taken by Cooper as a personal memento, and it was folded into 8ths so that Cooper could fit it into his snug flight suit. The bill is a large format U.S. $2 note, dated 1917, and carries the serial number D92207287A. It bares Cooper's hand signed, flight certification to the lower right, “Flown on Faith 7 - Gordon Cooper.” This is the only $2 bill known to have flown on this mission, as it was a singular and personal memento taken by Cooper. He also carried a $1 silver certificate as well in a similar fashion. Unlike the $2 bill, the $1 bill is signed and flight certified on the back, rather than the front. The bill comes with a signed, handwritten note in Cooper’s hand, scrawled on an envelope that housed the bill, attesting to its flight status and that it was carried in his flight suit pocket.
The flown bill along side the envelope in which it was housed, with Gordon Cooper's flight certification on the bill and the envelope. According to the envelope and the note, written in Cooper's own hand, this particular bill was folded and stored in his flight suit pocket for the flight.
Gordon Cooper's Mercury Atlas-9 rocket on the pad at Cape Canaveral just one day prior to the launch of the last of the Mercury Program missions.
Gordon Cooper as first seen when his Mercury Atlas-9 capsule hatch is opened aboard the recovery ship after his flight. Tucked safely in one of his suit pockets, the flown $2 bill.
Official NASA B-roll footage of the the historic flight of Friendship 7.