Gemini V astronauts Gordon Cooper and Pete Conrad framed this orange coverall sleeve and United States flag that had been stowed in their spacecraft during the mission and presented the set to Neil Armstrong, who served as backup commander for the mission. They dedicated the gift, "To Neil Armstrong with grateful thanks for his untiring efforts in making GT 5 [Gemini-Titan V] a 'shirtsleeve mission,'" signing it from "Gordo & Pete." Armstrong served not only as backup commander for the mission but also as Houston CAPCOM, the astronaut whose job it was in mission control to relay information to the flight crew. Gemini V was Armstrong's first assignment to a flight crew as a NASA astronaut.
Armstrong, commander of Apollo 11, became the first person to walk on the moon on July 20, 1969. Prior to joining NASA, Armstrong served as a naval aviator during the Korean War, flying 78 combat missions. After graduating with a B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering from Purdue University in 1955, Armstrong became a test pilot for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA, the forerunner to NASA) and flew over 200 different models of aircraft, including the X-15. Armstrong was selected for NASA’s astronaut corps in 1962 as part of the second class selection, and first flew in space as commander of Gemini VIII in 1966.
Shortly after his historic Apollo 11 mission in 1969, Armstrong earned an M.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Southern California, and when he left NASA in 1971, he taught at the University of Cincinnati for eight years. In 1986, he was appointed by President Reagan as the Vice-Chairman of the Rogers Commission investigating the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. In his later life, he served on several corporate boards and high-level advisory committees.
The framed, signed set was loaned to the National Air and Space Museum by Carol Armstrong and the Armstrong family in 2014.
This object is not on display at the National Air and Space Museum. It is either on loan or in storage.