Tom Stafford's Gemini 9 Flown Fliteline Medallion

Tom Stafford's flown Gemini 9 gold-plated sterling silver Fliteline medallion, 1Ë x 3/4ËÂ, with a raised design of the mission insignia on the front, and the reverse engraved: "Gemini IX, June 3â€â€œ6, 1966," with the astronauts' names on either side, "Stafford" and "Cernan." Hallmarked "Sterling" at the bottom. Includes the original maroon plastic Fliteline case. Exhibits minor overall tarnishing. Accompanied by a signed letter of provenance from Stafford, in part: "This medallion flew in space during June 3 through 6, 1966 on the Gemini IX mission. I commanded the flight while Eugene Cernan served as pilot. The medallion is sterling silver and one of the very few that were gold platedâ€Â¦Our crew emblem illustrates the objectives of the flight, a docking with an Agena target vehicle and performing a spacewalk. Our Agena never reached orbit on our first launch attempt, a computer failure scrubbed the second attempt to reach the new 'ATDA' target vehicle, but the third time was the charm as we finally reached orbit on June 3." An uncommon gold-plated variant carried into low earth orbit with Command Pilot Stafford on his second spaceflight.