Moonwalker Gene Cernan signed the certificate of authentication (COA), which states: “This is to certify that the accompanying Apollo 17 Lunar Module Star Chart and Star List were flown in the Lunar Module “Challenger” to the Lunar surface in the Taurus-Littrow region of the Moon. The Apollo 17 Lunar Module flown Star Chart and Star List used with the Alignment Optical Telescope to determine the Lunar Module’s orientation in space or on the Moon. Note that Earth is marked star #47 on the Star List.”
When the Star Charts for Apollo were designed, three stars’ names were made up by Gus Ivan Grissom as a tribute to his fellow Apollo 1 crew members. Star number 3 was named “NAVI,” which is Grissom’s middle name spelled backwards. Star number 17 was named “REGOR,” which is Roger (Chaffee) spelled backwards. Star number 20 was named “DNOCES,” which is Second (Ed White II) spelled backwards. After the tragic deaths of the Apollo 1 crew in a training accident, NASA honored the men by maintaining the names on all of the Star Charts.
30×14″ in frame
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From “Mooncollector” Jim Ruddy lifetime collection, When Jim turned 82 and his health was failing, he wanted to bundle his collection of lunar surface artifacts together in a single sale to someone who would care for them, and so he contacted me. I agreed to procure the collection and spent some time with him discussing each artifact at his home in Palm Springs. He was meticulous and carefully framed each precious treasure. Soon after I added this to the FV space collection in 2015, he passed away.
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