posted 08-30-2010 10:13 AM               

Space Cover #72, Armstrong Gets His Wings

Back on March 12, collectSPACE posted about Neil Armstrong receiving his Naval astronaut wings aboard the USS Dwight D Eisenhower while aboard the ship for the "Legends of Aerospace" military appreciation tour:

Naval astronaut Neil Armstrong: The first man to walk on the Moon was presented by the U.S. Navy on Wednesday with a pair of honorary Naval astronaut wings recognizing his "service to the Navy and in the field of space exploration.

Neil Armstrong was awarded with the wings while he was aboard the USS Dwight D Eisenhower with the "Legends of Aerospace" military appreciation tour along with fellow Apollo astronauts Gene Cernan and Jim Lovell. Armstrong served as a naval aviator from 1949 to 1952; the astronaut wings were not authorized until 1961."

In addition, a post about Neil Armstrong's Naval astronaut wings was made in the "Space Explorers & Workers" forum on March 10 which included the USS Dwight D Eisenhower news release and a number of photos.

Since the postings were after the award ceremony this led to a search for a cover for the event. After contacting many space and naval collectors one was found. As pictured, the cover for the award ceremony has the USS Dwight D Eisenhower ship rubber stamp of the ship's crest and the wording "Astronaut Neil Armstrong Receives Naval Astronaut Wings Aboard U.S.S. Dwight D. Eisenhower."

This is most likely a rare cover to find as I was only able to find the one collector who made any. So if you find one...