Lapel Pins Lot 6 (More Missions)

Description

There are some duplicates in this set from other sets. From left to right…

• Top Row: Hubble Space Telescope (launched 1990) in molded 3-D. NASA-ESA’s joint mission Ulysses (launched 1990). A different Ulysses pin (unusual for a mission pin: it has a plastic dome over a photo rather than enamel inlays; the bottom line reads “A Solar Polar Odyssey”). Really pretty JPL “launching from Earth” pin, 1990ish.
• Second Row: A gold-tone NASA worm logo, probably around 1990. Genesis (“Search for Origins”), launched 2001 and returned with solar wind samples 2004 (Note: This looks like it’s black on black, but it’s black on gold. See separate photo below). TOPEX/Poseidon mission (launched 1992). SIRTF (Space Infrared Telescope Facility) mission, launched 2003, renamed Spitzer Space Telescope; mission ended 2020. Cool and tiny TDRSS pin (pronounced “Tee-Driss” — Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System), which is a satellite constellation that allows constant communication between Mission Control and Shuttle, and later the International Space Station.
• Third Row: Unusual: a NSRS (NASA Safety Reporting System: NSRS “confidential voluntary responsive”). Galileo Earth Encounter 1990. Mars Sojourner rover (launched 1996, landed 1997, probably purchased in early/mid-90s). Magellan mission (launched 1989). And my all-time favorite mission pin, the black and gold Galileo — one of the few I’m keeping a copy of.
• Bottom: Voyager [2]’s encounter with Neptune (1989, which I got to watch live on internal monitors). Voyager Grand Tour (probably late 80s). The Galileo S/L-9 pin refers to its observations of Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 slamming into Jupiter in 1994 (Galileo arrived at Jupiter in 1995). Space station, see discussion here. A really cool and extra-large Deep Space Network 50 Year anniversary pin (2013, given to me by a friend who still works at JPL); JPL runs DSN to get data from spacecraft, and it has stations around the world so that any spacecraft is in “view” at any time: in California, Spain, and Australia (with flags shown). I very briefly worked on a software project for the DSN, and got to fly out to the California station at Ft. Irwin (flying with the rest of the team on “NASA 7” — a King-Air twin owned by NASA) to see the antennas and control stations.

In general, mission pins were made the year the spacecraft launched, with the exception of reproductions made to celebrate some sort of anniversary.

At Auction

How much is this worth? No idea whatever, hence the auction. I will also provide a signed letter describing the provenance. The starting price is $30, the increment is $7.50, and there is no reserve. It’s sold “as-is,” and domestic shipping is a flat $10 (Priority with tracking number).

Do not depend on email notifications of being outbid: come back at closing time and refresh every few minutes if you are intent on winning this one. Note that last-minute bids will delay the close of bidding by a few minutes.