TITUSVILLE, Fla. – The American Space Museum’s Spring 2025 Charity Space Memorabilia Auction is open now for ONLINE bidding. The museum is auctioning off an array of “rare and historic” space items this weekend. Among these items are hard-to-find pieces from John Glenn’s historic orbit around the Earth.
“Godspeed, John Glenn,” echoed across television sets more than 60 years ago as the astronaut became the first American to orbit the planet.
[See more about the auction below]
“Zero-G and I feel fine,” Glenn said during that Mercury-Atlas 6 mission, offering the world a glimpse into the beginnings of U.S. space exploration.
Now, fast-forward to today, and collectors have a rare opportunity to own a piece of that history.
“This is the first time I’ve ever seen one in an auction,” said Chuck Jeffrey, collections analyst for the American Space Museum in Titusville. “This is the manual they used to launch John Glenn’s spacecraft into orbit. And it’s the only one I’ve ever seen. I’ve talked to a lot of people. No one’s ever seen them. It’s just that hard to find.”
Jeffrey is referring to Robert “Bob” Heine’s MA-6 “Capsule Flight Operations Manual” used by John Glenn (pictured below). The manual is expected to sell anywhere between $8,000 to $12,000 or more.
Another high-profile item is a $2 bill that was flown into orbit with John Glenn, expected to fetch between $15,000 and $20,000.
“Anything you fly on the first American orbital flight... that’s valuable,” Jeffrey said.
The bill is personally hand-signed by John Glenn and is framed alongside a certificate of authenticity, which is also signed by both John Glenn and fellow astronaut Scott Carpenter.
If you are a fan of the 1995 Ron Howard film “Apollo 13,” then you might want to bid on a rare Apollo 13 “Mission Abort” commemorative cover.
The cover is hand signed by all four prime crew members: James A. Lovell Jr., John L. Swigert Jr., Fred W. Haise Jr., and Ken Mattingly. This unique cover displays the cancellation date, April 14, 1970, marking the historic moment in the Apollo 13 mission when there was a catastrophic system failure that forced the crew to abandon the lunar landing and make a perilous return to Earth.
All the artifacts on sale have been donated or consigned to the museum by astronauts, space workers, and people who dedicated their lives to the space program -- to help raise money to support the museum.
Jeffrey, considered a space history guru, serves as the point person for the latest auction and is also the museum’s No. 1 fundraiser.
“These auctions keep this museum open,” he said. “They finance our education program. We do STEAM programs for elementary-age children. Those programs are free to everyone who attends.”
Those programs and the memorabilia permanently on display at the museum, are helping to inspire the next generation.
“To inspire a child, even a single child, to go above and beyond, to become an astronaut, to become an engineer, to create something new that’s never been seen or done,” Jeffrey said. “That’s the greater good.”
Bidding is ONLINE ONLY and open right now, however, FINAL bidding begins Saturday, May 3, at 12 p.m. At that time, for each item, the auctioneer will ACTIVELY take bids then close bidding for that item.
Bidding requires registration with the auction bidding site. Click here to sign up.
Have something to sell?
Most space memorabilia has value — even manuals, visitor passes, posters, photos and other items that might seem, at first glance, to be “throwaways.”
The best way to know for certain is to let someone who understands the memorabilia market take a look at it. Chuck Jeffrey is a space memorabilia specialist, and he tells News 6 that he would be happy to discuss the value of your collection with you.
To have your memorabilia evaluated, contact Jeffrey via email or call (407) 947-8954.