Description:

A REPLICA PIONEER 10 & 11 ALUMINUM PLAQUE AWARDED TO JOHN YARDLEY
Awarded to John Yardley on the event of his departure from NASA in 1981. The plaque of brushed metal with the incised design by Dr. Carl Sagan and Dr. Frank Drake, artistically rendered by Linda Salzman Sagan. The lower plaque reads "A Message to the Stars; This is a replica of the original, gold anodized aluminum plaques carried aboard Mankind's first emissaries to the stars, the Pioneer 10 &11 spacecrafts. A schematic hydrogen atop (at upper left) represents the most common elements in the universe. Radiating lines give bearings from our sun to 14 pulsars, cosmic radio sources. Humans in front of an outline of the Pioneer spacecraft depict what we look like and how big we are. Our solar system (bottom) indicates Pioneer's track from Earth out past Jupiter. It is an interstellar stela that shows mankind possesses a spiritual insight beyond the material problems of the age of human emergence."

The verso bearing laminated literature on the symbolism within the image and its purpose, before the engraved plaque reading "John F. Yardley; Presented on the Occasion of his Departure from NASA, June 1981, by Ames Research Center".

    Provenance:
  • Purchased July 26th, 2013 from the estate of John F. Yardley, a crucial figure in early space travel and St. Louis native. Yardley served as chief engineer for the Project Mercury (1958-1963) spacecraft, which carried the first Americans into space, and then as technical director for its successor, the Project Gemini (1961-1966) spacecraft, as well as serving as associate administrator for manned space flight at NASA from 1974 to 1981. Returning to St. Louis, Yardley then served as president of McDonnell Douglas Astronautics until he retired in 1989.
  • Dimensions:
  • 9 x 9 in. (22.9 x 22.9 cm.)
  • Condition:
  • Mild scratching and dings to the plaques, most evident on the back plaque.

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May 5, 2023 10:00 AM CDT
St. Louis, MO, US

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Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $29 $5
$30 $99 $10
$100 $499 $25
$500 $999 $50
$1,000 $2,999 $100
$3,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $29,999 $1,000
$30,000 $49,999 $2,500
$50,000 $99,999 $5,000
$100,000 $299,999 $10,000
$300,000 $499,999 $25,000
$500,000 + $50,000