posted 01-27-2008 06:31 PM               

Collector Rich Jurek's new website, The Jefferson-In-Space Museum showcases his collection of space-flown $2 bills. From his site:

On many historic flights into the great void of space, astronauts have sometimes carried $2 bills as mementos or good luck charms, and in so doing, have made Thomas Jefferson a sort of honorary accidental astronaut. This site catalogs my collection of "Jeffersons in Space," a specialty part of my overall space artifact collection.

posted 01-27-2008 07:18 PM               

It inspires me because nobody can have the best of every area of collecting, but with a lot of focus, hard work, and perseverance it's amazing how much one can actualize in a chosen specialty or area. Look at what Leslie Cantwell did with his signed large format collection so successfully exhibited at London's Proud Galleries last year.

posted 01-27-2008 08:04 PM               

And it has also been fun, as Rob S. pointed out, taking a sub-genre of space collecting and trying to assemble the most complete set as possible -- combining my collecting passions for both space and currency. Whether you collect Robbins medallions, flags, betas, patches, autographs, etc., there is something to be said about finding a theme and trying to follow through on it.

posted 01-28-2008 02:01 AM               

It does also beg a question:

posted 08-02-2008 11:21 AM               

His focus on a narrow subject has gained Jurek a most unique and nearly complete collection: space-flown two dollar bills signed by the astronauts who carried them.

Jurek compares owning a space-flown artifact to owning the maps or relics that accompanied such historic explorers as Ferdinand Magellan, Christopher Columbus, David Livingstone and Lewis and Clark. "I have the highest regard for the men and women who have dedicated their lives to exploring the universe, often at great personal risk," he says. "Humanity's first step off of Earth, accomplished in the early days of the great space race, is arguably the single most significant and dramatic human accomplishment of the 20th century. It is an honor and a privilege to be able to own items that made that journey."

posted 10-21-2008 01:28 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Robert Pearlman:
The current issue of Autograph Magazine includes a profile of Jefferson-In-Space Museum curator Richard Jurek's collection.

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posted 10-22-2009 11:09 PM               

Since its launch, the Museum has had the pleasure of almost 12,000 visitors. And for those of you who subscribe to Coin World publications, the February 2010 issue of Paper Money Values (which will be on news stands in December), will feature the collection -- reaching a much wider audience than the SPMC Journal article last December.

posted 10-23-2009 11:12 PM               

I've been corresponding with the John Glenn Archives in Ohio. They have a memo, which they've sent me a copy of, that details about the bills. It is a memo dated March 9th, 1962, written by Charles L. Buckley, Jr., of the NASA Security Office.

According to Mr. Buckley's memo, "approximately $52 to $56 or a total of 32 bills of one and two dollar denominations were place aboard the capsule by a McDonnell Aircraft employee..."

That employee was Joe Trammel, who also has signed the flown bill. (He inscribed it with "Good luck John", so my assumption is that Joe's signature was placed on the bill prior to flight, and Glenn and Carpenter's post flight.) Joe is the source for the recorded serial numbers of bills for that flight, too it seems from the video.

After Googling about Joe, I came across a You Tube video from St. Louis television that records a wonderfully moving tribute to Joe and his fellow McDonnel Aircraft crew mates who worked on the Mercury capsules. It is a six minute video that tells the story of their role in building the craft, and, yes, sneaking currency aboard. The video is very well done and shows some great vintage footage of Mercury capsules being constructed... and it is extremely moving, given that the reunion is being held by Joe's wife because Joe was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, and it was a way for the crew mates to get together while they still could.

posted 11-01-2009 09:43 PM               

Yes, a couple of the $1 bills did, indeed, survive all those years underwater in Liberty Bell 7. Most likely they survived because of being heat sealed within the tubing, as described in the NASA investigation memo I posted to the Museum site. I was privileged to see two of the recovered bills at the Cosmosphere this summer on a visit. One is heavily damaged from exposure to the ocean...and another is almost perfectly in-tact, with full signatures of the launch crew folks who placed it on the craft...including Col. C. Powers, who is cc'ed on the NASA memo on the Glenn bill investigations.

As far as I know, there were no $2 bills recovered from this flight, and as you can see here, only a couple of the dollar bills flown survived all those years at the bottom of the Ocean.

posted 11-12-2009 02:12 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Robert Pearlman:
...what does the real JIS museum look like?

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posted 11-13-2009 09:38 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by capoetc:
I heard that he keeps them all in his wallet.

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posted 08-05-2010 08:46 PM               

The Jefferson-in-Space Museum is proud to announce the addition of a $2 bill from Gene Cernan which flew on ALL THREE of his historic missions, including landing with him on the moon during Apollo 17.

Back in 2008, in the article that appeared in Autograph Magazine about the collection, I alluded to having discovered the existence of a previously unknown (at least to me) $2 bill that flew on all of an astronaut's space missions. Well, this week, the bill officially touched-down at the Jefferson-in-Space Museum.