Bidspirit auction | Astronaut Bob Stewart signed NSTL

Astronaut Bob Stewart signed NSTL Space Shuttle Main Engine commemorative FDC PM Pearlington. MS JUL 13 PM 1982 39572. Missions STS-41-B STS-51-J . Selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in January 1978, Stewart became a NASA astronaut in August 1979. His technical duties in the Astronaut Office included: testing and evaluation of the entry flight control systems for STS-1 (the first Space Shuttle orbital mission), ascent abort procedures development, and payload coordination. He also served as support crewman for STS-4, and Ascent/Orbit CAPCOM for STS-5. He served as a mission specialist on STS-41-B in 1984 and STS-51-J in 1985, and logged a total of 289 hours in space, including approximately 12 hours of EVA operations. Although astronauts who had served in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II (including Gus Grissom and Deke Slayton) had previously flown, Stewart was the first active-duty Army officer to make a spaceflight.