Pages

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Thanks for all the emails! We appreciate them. And yes, this is just the blog site of the Jefferson Space Museum. To visit the actual virtual museum, with all the bills cataloged with images and their history, go to The Jefferson Space Museum

This blog site is simply a place where we will update news and space information relevant to the museum.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Well, after our first full month of being open, I am thrilled to announce we have had hundreds of visitors from many points on the globe -- in fact, the Jefferson Space Museum of flown US $2 bills has been visited by people from 26 different countries -- and from hundreds of cities in those countries. We've had visitors from the following countries (listed in order of their rank in terms of total number of visitors): the US, China, Russia, UK, Germany, France, Japan, Austria, Ukraine, Canda, Australia, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, Poland, Spain, Greece, Belarus, Bahrain, Bulgaria, Colombia, Iceland, Cote D'Ivoire, and New Zeland. Thank you all! Please spread the word - we are always open! And if you like what you see, please do send us a note at info@jeffersonspacemuseum.com. And don't forget to visit the gift shop. :)   After all, what would be a trip to a museum, even a virtual one, without a trip to the gift shop???? (My personal favorite is the note pad.)

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

On December 14, 1972, Gene Cernan and Jack Schmitt finish up their last EVA, and board the lunar module for their ride back to lunar orbit. The last two humans to walk on the moon leave the surface, and bring to a close one of the greatest adventures of the 20th Century. Gene Cernan becomes the "last man" to leave his bootprint in lunar soil.

A wonderful shot of the lunar module's ascent, as taken by Ron Evans orbiting in the command module.
A gorgeous, closeup view of the lunar module taken by Ron Evans as it approaches for docking to prepare for the return trip home.

Monday, December 12, 2011

Bravo to Cambridge University, for putting 4,000 of Sir Isaac Newton's papers online, expanding the world of the virtual museum, and making available for people these most important works. Humanity would never have been able to reach the stars if not for the ground breaking work of Sir Isaac. (Remember the line from the Apollo 13 movie?) The Jefferson Space Museum welcomes this virtual effort!

Sunday, December 11, 2011

39 years ago today, on December 11, 1972, the last manned crew of the Apollo lunar program began their four day exploration of the Taurus Littrow valley.
Dramatic panoramic view of the lunar module Challenger, and the lunar rover vehicle. Panoramas of this kind can be obtained by visiting the good folks @ www.moonpans.com.
Along with Commander Gene Cernan, the first scientist in space Jack Schmitt, a geologist, would capture some of my favorite imagery of the Apollo program.

Jack Schmitt, with the falg and Earth, is photographed by Gene Cernan on December 11, 1972. You can see Gene's reflection in the sun shield of Jack's helmet.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

After three days of travel, and conducting many experiments, the crew of Apollo 17 performs lunar orbit insertion manuevers that place them firmly in orbit around the moon as they prepare for the last lunar landing of the Apollo program. The crew also conducts lunar orbit photography and observation activities as well. Visit the mission flown $2 bill of Commander Gene Cernan in the gallery section of the Jefferson Space Museum.
Earthrise over the lunar surface on December 10, 1972, as seen from the lunar module Challenger. The flown $2 in the Jefferson Space Museum is stowed away in Gene's PPK in the lunar module, and will descend to the lunar surface the next day.
The Apollo 17 landing site in the valley of Taurus Littrow as photographed on December 10, 1972, from the command module America.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

This coming Wednesday, December 7, 2011, will mark the 39th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 17 -- the last of NASA's manned lunar missions. That mission launched in dramatic fashion at night, lighting up the skies over Florida, to bring to close one of the greatest chapters of US exploration. Aboard that mission was Commander Eugene Cernan -- the last man to leave his bootprint on the moon. For luck, and in memory and homage to his father, Gene also took with him a $2 bill that flew on his other flights --- and was given to him by his father to fly on his first space flight. It is amazing to think that we have not returned to the moon in all those years....but, you can visit the bill that historically flew with and landed on the moon by visiting it at the museum!

Apollo 17 Launches on December 7, 1972 for the last manned lunar mission of Apollo - on board is Gene Cernan's GT9A and A10 flown $2 bill, which was given to him by his father after his father carried it for years in his wallet for luck. The bill is now a part of the Jefferson Space Museum collection. View it at www.jeffersonspacemuseum.com

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

A fantastic new post about the museum just hit Paul Fraser Collectibles wonderful blog. The article is a very nice tribute and overview of the museum, how I started the collection, and my interests in the bill. You will enjoy the other article's on Paul's site, too, so make sure you poke around -- especially in the space collectibles sections. UPDATE: And they did an expanded version of the article, with more pictures of the bills, and more background on the collection. Read this version here.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Noted collector and paper money blogger Tom Chao wrote about the new Jefferson Space Museum on his blog site. You can see the post by clicking here. Tom's blog is great! If you are at all interested in Paper money, you really need to check it out. Also his famous world paper money gallery, which can be found here. Thanks for the blog post, Tom!

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Earlier this month, I spent time down at the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation's annual gathering at the Kennedy Space Center. On my way down, I stopped off in Sarasota at the office of the Paper Money Guaranty folks to show them the flown Jefferson bills. They've got some fatastic offices and people down there. We spent some time chatting about flown currency, and I left them with a lot of resource material, provenance paperwork, etc. (Copies, of course....) And they were kind enough to certify and slab the bills in their PMG holders. I got the idea from going to the World's Fair of Money exposition in Chicago this past year, seeing all the wonderful exhibits of historic paper money....all of which was usually PMG slabbed, cataloged, and certified. It was a great experience, and another attempt by the Jefferson Space Museum to educate those in the paper money world about these unique bills. Afterward, I took the bills back to the ASF show, and here is a picture of Gene Cernan with the JSM bill of his that flew on all three of his missions, including landing on the moon during Apollo 17. It was a nice opportunity to reunite Gene with the bill, and we had a great time chatting about it once again.

Friday, November 25, 2011

And in an ultimate display of vanity -- and fun loving commercialism -- we've launched a Jefferson Space Museum gift shop, with logoed items that are, ahem, reasonably priced. Some cool items. And best yet, they feature the museum logo, which was custom designed for us by noted German space artist and illustrator Detlev van Ravenswaay. Now how cool is that?

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

After many years of collecting the bills for the Jefferson Space Museum, we have finally reached a point to launch a full fledged virtual museum! The site will go live on Sunday, November 27, 2011. Check out our new place on the web at The Jefferson Space Museum. (Many thanks to Fish-I Design & Video for their work on the site.) And please join us here in the conversation, as we post to this blog updates on new acquisitions, research on the bills in the collection, and discuss space artifact collecting in general.