Dual-Signed NASA STS-2 Crew Photo — Joe Engle & Richard Truly, Columbia, 1981 View Watchlist >
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Lot # Nasa51
System ID # 29231175
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Dual-Signed NASA STS-2 Crew Photo — Joe Engle & Richard Truly, Columbia, 1981, with COA
November 12, 1981. Space Shuttle Columbia lifted off for only the second time in history — and for the first time, a crewed spacecraft was launched into orbit for a second mission. No rocket had ever done that before. The men sitting on top of it were Commander Joe H. Engle and Pilot Richard H. Truly, and what they flew that week rewrote what human spaceflight could be.
This is the official NASA color crew portrait for STS-2 — photo number JSCL-246 — bearing hand-applied signatures from both astronauts directly on the image face. Engle at left, Truly at right, both in the iconic orange ejection-escape suits bearing the Columbia / Engle-Truly mission patch, flanking a scale model of the orbiter against a full American flag. The reverse carries the period NASA "worm" logotype and the printed crew caption identifying both men by name and role. Both signatures are dark, legible, and signed directly to the image.
Why These Two Men
Joe Engle is one of only two pilots in history to have earned astronaut wings by flying a winged aircraft to the edge of space before NASA ever gave him a seat — he flew the X-15 above 50 miles on three occasions in 1965, qualifying him as an Air Force astronaut before the program ended. On STS-2, he hand-flew more of Columbia's reentry manually than any astronaut in Shuttle history, demonstrating the orbiter's handling qualities with the kind of stick-and-rudder precision that defines a test pilot's test pilot. Richard Truly came up through the same elite pipeline — naval aviator, NASA astronaut, Approach and Landing Tests on Enterprise — and after STS-2 went on to command STS-8 before becoming the ninth NASA Administrator under President George H.W. Bush. Two astronauts, one a living legend of high-altitude flight, the other a future head of the entire agency. That's who signed this photograph.
Provenance & Authentication
This photograph is offered with a Certificate of Authenticity issued by Mesilla Valley Estate Sales. Signatures are presented as-is and have not been independently authenticated by a third-party autograph service; the COA reflects the house's assessment of the item as consigned.
CONDITION
Good. The image face presents brightly with strong color saturation; both signatures are dark and fully legible. The verso shows scattered foxing and tan toning throughout, with edge handling wear and light corner creasing consistent with age and storage.
DIMENSIONS / SPECIFICATIONS
- 8" × 10"
- NASA Photo No.: JSCL-246
- Signed by: Joe H. Engle (Commander) and Richard H. Truly (Pilot)
- Authentication: COA from Mesilla Valley Estate Sales included
- NASA "worm" logotype present on face and verso
