posted 10-13-2011 02:11 PM               

I'll just be happy that for years I chose to spend most of my disposable income on items that I think will be desirable to my fellow space program enthusiasts, and I'll look forward to starting to build back up my collection in three years when our oldest is in kindergarten!

This is certainly the most unique NASA item I've been fortunate enough to own: the very first NASA ID ever issued.

It's the laminated photo ID card issued to Edward R. Sharp when he was the Director of Lewis (renamed, in 1999, Glenn) Research Center of Cleveland, Ohio. (A recent Air & Space magazine article about the supersonic wind tunnel at Lewis mentioned Sharp.)

He had joined NASA's precursor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, in 1922 (!). In 1957-1958, he served on NACA's Special Committee on Space Technology, which led to the creation of NASA. In this photo of the committee members, he is sitting up front on the left, across from von Braun.

NACA was abolished, and its research centers, including Lewis, incorporated into the new agency. NASA officially opened its doors on October 1, 1958 in the old Dolley Madison House across Lafayette Square from the White House. (A year later the Mercury 7 astronauts were introduced to the public in that house.) NASA's first administrator was T. Keith Glennan.

Here is the back of Sharp's ID card. First, I find the date of birth interesting: 3/9/94, as in 1894. This is a NASA employee who was born the year the Wright brothers started repairing and selling bicycles.

Then there is the fact that this card wasn't authorized by a security officer with a stamp, but hand-signed by Administrator Glennan himself, just a month after NASA started its work.

And finally, over on the left... this is "Card Number 1", the very first ID ever issued by NASA.

A NASA history webpage includes the first attempts at NASA organizational charts. Page 5 of this PDF file is one from November 14, 1958 - just four days after this ID was issued - which named both Glennan and Sharp.

Because it was signed by Administrator Glennan, I bought a copy of The Birth of NASA: The Diary of T. Keith Glennan This book will be included with the card. The really detailed, day-to-day diary doesn't start until January of 1960, but there are pages that cover late 1958. It is a fascinating, amazingly candid account of what it was like to be responsible for assembling NACA, major research laboratories, and various military programs (not to mention the newly-created Goddard and Marshall Space Flight Centers) into NASA.

Here is a relevant passage:

May 2, 1960: After a quick visit to the rocket systems test area - we test medium size rocket engines at the Plum Brook site - we jumped into cars and drove back to the Lewis Research Center for lunch. We did not take the helicopter back because Dick Horner felt it was unsafe and in hands that were not as well-trained as he thought necessary. After lunch, we made a quick tour of several of the wind tunnels to look at the models of missiles and space flight vehicles now being tested at Lewis. We also saw the training device used by the astronauts to test their reactions and give them experience in orienting themselves in the face of violent tumbling.

Usually, when I post something for sale on collectSPACE, I include links to past auction sales to show the rationale behind my asking price. I can't do that in this case, because this historical artifact is utterly unique: there was only one, and can ever only be one, very first NASA ID ever issued.

I am considering consigning this to a space auction. But I realized that I should first see if any collectSPACE members are interested in making an offer. (If you know of any collectors who might be interested in this, perhaps you could let them know about this post.)

As you consider how much to offer, please keep two things in mind:

First, since we'll be paying so much for childcare for the next three years, I can think long-term. This means that if it will help you make the best offer you can, I could accept installments spread out over the next six months.

And then please remember that we've seen how high the IDs of a couple of the Apollo astronauts who aren't even household names have sold for at space auctions. But there were dozens of Mercury-Gemini-Apollo astronauts, and each of those astronauts were issued several NASA IDs during their careers. There is only one "Card Number 1", and I really think that if I put it up at auction, at least two enthusiasts of space program history, even those who do not have any other ID in their collections, would want to be the top bidder on such a unique item from the very beginning of NASA's existence.

The card is in excellent condition. On the front, there are two faint quarter-inch creases - one at the top and one at the bottom. But these can only be seen if the light is hitting it just right (or wrong) - a classic "mentioned for the sake of accuracy" detail. You'll also see a couple of little brown specks on the scans, but just now while looking over the card to be able to describe its condition I easily pushed them off with my thumbnail. Sharp was issued this card in November of 1958 and retired from NASA in December of 1960, and since he was the longtime director of the research center he probably didn't have to haul out the ID every time he wanted to get in somewhere, which would have worn it out. Sharp passed away in July of 1961, and the card looks like it was then carefully stored for the last half-century.