Mercury 7 Signed Initials on Mailing Envelope with Deke Slayton Autograph Note Signed, Agreeing to Joseph Kittinger’s Parachute Proposal

“I have written Caidin back requesting that he have Joe contact us upon his return. Anyone who is avail. to accept his call & visit should feel free to do so”—the Mercury 7 astronauts initial their approval of a meeting with Joseph Kittinger to discuss his personal parachute proposal

Signed initials of the Mercury 7 astronauts on a 4.25 x 9.5 mailing envelope, which also bears an ANS from Deke Slayton. The envelope features ink and pencil initials of Scott Carpenter (“C, I’d like to talk to him”), Gordon Cooper (“LGC”), John Glenn (“JHG”), Gus Grissom (“VIG”), Wally Schirra (“WMS, Jr.”), Alan Shepard (“S”), and Deke Slayton (“DK”), arranged beside a handwritten list of the first letters of the surnames. Slayton adds a handwritten note below: “I have written Caidin back requesting that he have Joe contact us upon his return. Anyone who is avail. to accept his call & visit should feel free to do so. D.K.” The front is addressed to “Captain Donald K. Slayton, USAF, Project Mercury, c/o Holiday Inn Motel, Highway A1A, Cocoa Beach, Florida.” In fine condition, with light wear such as stains and creases.

Accompanied by the original two-page letter that prompted Slayton’s note, signed by aviation and space writer Martin Caidin and dated May 13, 1961, just eight days after Alan Shepard’s historic Freedom 7 flight. Writing to Slayton, Caidin relays a message from U.S. Air Force test pilot Joseph Kittinger concerning personal parachute equipment for the Mercury astronauts. Kittinger, who the previous year had made his record-setting 102,800-foot Excelsior III jump, believed that a multistage parachute system could provide astronauts with an improved means of personal survival if they were forced to abandon a spacecraft. Caidin explains that Kittinger was willing to meet privately with the Mercury astronauts after returning from Germany, emphasizing that the proposal was made “on an unofficial — personal basis.”

Caidin further describes Kittinger’s views on emergency escape from a spacecraft at extreme altitude, noting the potential advantages of a rapid but stabilized free fall and a multistage parachute system that could be made lighter and smaller than the existing chest-reserve equipment. He reiterates that Kittinger “strongly” believed in the value of the system, citing his two successful jumps from extreme altitude, and suggests that a discussion between Kittinger and the Mercury astronauts “might be fruitful.”