Bidspirit auction | Astronaut Jerome Apt signed NSTL

Astronaut Jerome Apt signed NSTL Space Shuttle Main Engine Test 11 ENG 2108 170 SEC/FPL RandD FDC PM Pearlington, MS JUL 10 PM 1981 39572. Missions STS-37 STS-47 STS-59 STS-79. Apt was a resident of Shadyside and graduated from Shady Side Academy in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1967. He went on to attend Harvard University, earning a Bachelor of Arts in physics in 1971. He then attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and earned a Doctor of Philosophy in physics in 1976. From 1976 to 1980 he was a staff member of the Center for Earth & Planetary Physics at Harvard, and served as the Assistant Director of Harvard's Division of Applied Sciences from 1978 to 1980. In 1980 he joined the Earth and Space Sciences Division of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) as a scientist doing planetary research; he was science manager of the optical facilities at JPL's Table Mountain Observatory. From 1982 through 1985 he was a flight controller responsible for Shuttle payload operations at NASA's Johnson Space Center. He worked in the mission control center on missions STS-7, STS-8, STS-41B, STS-41C, STS-41D, STS-41G, STS-51A, and STS-51D (the last four as Payload Officer). In 1985 he was selected as an astronaut candidate, and qualified to become an astronaut after a year of training. He has over 7,000 hours piloting aircraft, has flown on four space missions and has logged over 847 hours in space.