I just obtained a collection of very rare items from […]

I just obtained a collection of very rare items from the earliest days of rocketry and spaceflight. So exciting.

1) a collection of items from 1926 and Goddard’s earliest research on rocketry, leading to the world’s first liquid rocket flight. The inner nozzle from that flight, and the fuel valve from one that blew up.

2) the Apollo Command Module navigation sextant from its first flight, AS-202, that preceded Apollo 1.

3) Mercury Liberty Bell 7 Shutoff Valve, recovered from the bottom of the ocean after Gus Grissom’s capsule sank after splashdown from a premature ejection of the hatch.