On February 20, 1962, John H. Glenn, Jr., became the first American to orbit Earth, and in so doing reestablished NASA and the U.S. as a strong contender in the space race with the Soviet Union. The Jefferson Space Museum proudly celebrates this milestone achievement, and salutes John Glenn, the last surviving member of the original Mercury 7 astronauts. To learn more about John's flight, go to the NASA history office, or check out the $2 bill exhibit that is a part of the Jefferson Space Museum, housing one of the historic bills that flew in space on this amazing Mercury mission.
Happy Blues for John Glenn
One of the most popular bills in the collection is the $2 bill that ground crew member Joe Tramel put aboard John Glenn's capsule for his famous space flight -- becoming the first American to orbit the Earth. Joe and millions of American's were taken with Glenn and his flight, and none taken so much like Lightnin' Hopkins, the great blues singer. Hopkins was so taken with Glenn's flight, that he wrote a wonderful, foot-stomping song to celebrate the mission titled "Happy Blues for John Glenn." Check it out if you haven't heard it. It makes for nice listening as you read about Glenn's flight and visit the $2 bill that went along for the ride!
New Addition: Gemini 5 flown $2 bill halves!
The Jefferson Space Museum is proud to announce that it has expanded its collection of rare and one-of-a-kind space flown $2 bills to include the previously unknown flown $2 bill halves from the crew of Gemini 5.
These bills, housed away in the private space artifact collection of NASA pad leader Guenter Wendt for decades, are the only such halved $2 bills to have ever flown on a US space flight mission.
One half of the bills represented "a dollar" given to Wendt on departure, as the last human that the crew would interact with physically before launching into space. The other half of each bill was given to Wendt upon splashdown, thus the "dollar down" notation. Despite Wendt confusing which half of each bill flew, these historic $2 bills represent one of the most unique bill-sets in the collection.
The rarest and most traveled $2 bill on the planet, which also holds the world's speed record for a manned vehicle flight! This is one impressive bill.
On this day 45 years ago....
On May 18, 1969, Apollo 10 lifted off from Cape Kennedy Florida for the final dress rehearsal mission before the historic Apollo 11 lunar landing. Tom Stafford, John Young, and Gene Cernan flew the mission. This would be Gene Cernan's second space flight, and along with him, he took his lucky $2 bill --- the one that flew with him on Gemini 9A. The bill was given to him by his father for good luck, and before Gene could give it back to him, his father, unfortunately, passed away.
On Gemini 9, Gene almost lost his life during his dramatic space walk attempt. And then, on Apollo 10, he and Tom Stafford, just a few miles above the lunar surface, lost control of the lunar module in its lunar orbit test flight....but quickly regained control, and made it back home safely. And yes, the same lucky $2 bill was aboard with Gene at the time. (It would also accompany him down to the lunar surface on his third and final space flight -- as the last man to leave his boot print on the lunar surface as part of the Apollo program in 1972.)
The fact that this bill has flown 3x in space, makes it one of the rarest and most unique $2 bills on (or off!) the planet. Fun Fact: this bill has also traveled at the fastest speed ever recorded for human flight, a record held by Apollo 10 during re-entry that has never been broken -- 24,791 m.p.h. (39,897 km/h)!
It is one of the rarest $2 bills on (or off!) the planet, and it is one of the many treasured bills that reside within the Jefferson Space Museum collection.
Captain Eugene Cernan, in his Houston office, flight certifying this bill from his collection, and attesting to its history.