Bidspirit auction | Space ASTP 1975 set of

Space ASTP 1975 set of three flown launch recovery helicopter covers, partially signed. The Apollo Command Module for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on July 24, 1975. The crew was retrieved by the aircraft carrier USS New Orleans. The descent featured a near-tragedy when toxic thruster fumes were pulled into the cabin, briefly rendering Vance Brand unconscious before Commander Thomas Stafford deployed emergency oxygen masks. The ASTP recovery operation was the last splashdown and ocean retrieval of the Apollo era. Because the hatch was opened and the capsule retrieved by a crane, it marked the first time that Navy personnel directly met Apollo astronauts on the carrier deck without a helicopter extraction. Due to toxic fume inhalation during re-entry, astronauts Stafford, Brand, and Donald ”Deke” Slayton were immediately hospitalized in Honolulu. Good condition Est.