posted 08-09-2018 05:52 PM               

Anyone know how many were produced? Or the history of the item?

posted 08-09-2018 05:54 PM               

"The beginnings of this are sort of lost in legend, if you will," explained James Banke, secretary of the U.S. Air Force Space & Missile Museum Foundation. "No one, and we've asked around a little bit, even among those who run the museum itself, no one is really sure when it began."

"I can tell you that when I vacationed in Florida from growing up in Minnesota, that when I visited the museum in 1970-1971, that practice was going on. I remember getting one of those cards," said Banke in an interview with collectSPACE...

"The material that is on there is from a mesh screen that used to cover and surround the elevator that was used to go up and down the gantry. That mesh was disposed of and one of the museum's volunteers thought, 'Hey, this might be good for fund raising,' and literally pulled it from the trash," recalled Banke. "We don't know who that was or when exactly he did that, but now, as we need to, we pull it back out and cut it into small little pieces to put on the cards."

posted 08-09-2018 08:10 PM               

In addition, though, besides the printed card formats, another type of Pad 26 launch pad relic had been designed during the 1980's. These were the 8.5"x11" printed COAs on parchment paper from our nation's first satellite-orbited launch pad gantry, but others in a series were also produced containing pad relics from other historic Cape launch complexes.

But even before the first-generation cards were created, early on, launch pad artifact cut-sections from Pad 26 were made as souvenirs displayed in small plastic viewing cases. Many had been handed-out to visiting dignitaries, military personnel, press and public relations reps.

To the best of my knowledge, though, it was the idea of a former Air Force Space Museum Curator, Don Engel, here at the Cape. Following the tradition, it was taken over by Ernest Malnassy, another ex-Cape museum director, along with the help of Nick Pensiero (RCA) and Bill Dickerson (Pan Am/EG&G/45th Space Wing).

From knowing a lot of the Cape Air Force museum and station oldtimers, way back when, I just can't say for sure if perhaps the initial idea of using pad relics, as Jim indicated, came from a volunteer working under Engel. If the idea had been proposed by a museum volunteer and for possible fund raising purposes, I just can't add anything further one way or another. But I had always been under the impression that Engel had been the primary player here.