Bidspirit auction | Astronaut Joe Kerwin signed Columbia

Astronaut Joe Kerwin signed Columbia Arrival commemorative cover Jan 1984. Missions Skylab-2. Kerwin was selected for NASA Astronaut Group 4 as a scientist-astronaut in June 1965. He was serving as a pilot and a flight surgeon for the Navy at the time of his selection. He was one of the capsule communicators (CAPCOMs) on Apollo 13 (in 1970). Kerwin served as Science Pilot for the Skylab 2 (SL-2) mission which launched on May 25 and splashed down on June 22, 1973. With him for the initial activation and 28-day flight qualification operations of the Skylab Orbital Workshop were Charles ””Pete”” Conrad (spacecraft commander) and Paul J. Weitz (Pilot). Kerwin was subsequently in charge of the on-orbit branch of the Astronaut Office, where he coordinated astronaut activity involving rendezvous, satellite deployment and retrieval, and other Space Shuttle payload operations. Kerwin was part of the NBC broadcasting team for coverage of the launch of STS-1.