Fall 2026 Militaria and Aviation Auction
Lot 235A:
Description
Full catalog title: NASA Space Medals with Distinguished Service-Type Neck Medal. Impressive collection of NASA medals, decorations, miniature medals, and related award pieces, accompanied by Evans E. Kerrigan’s scarce reference work The NASA Space Medals: The Medals and Awards of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for Achievements in the Exploration of Outer Space, published in 1990. The group presents a broad visual survey of NASA’s civilian honor-award system, established to recognize exceptional service, leadership, scientific and engineering achievement, bravery, public service, and contributions to America’s space program. NASA’s formal honor awards have included such distinctions as the Distinguished Service Medal, Distinguished Public Service Medal, Outstanding Leadership Medal, Exceptional Service Medal, Exceptional Achievement Medal, Exceptional Scientific and Engineering Achievement Medals, Exceptional Bravery Medal, Equal Employment Opportunity Medal, and Space Flight Medal, among others.
Dominating the collection is a large, highly decorative neck-worn NASA medal suspended from a broad striped ribbon, accompanied by an assortment of full-size and miniature suspension medals displaying numerous NASA insignia and award designs. Several examples feature the familiar NASA orbit, spacecraft, stars, scientific, engineering, and administrative motifs used throughout the agency’s medallic program. NASA considers its Distinguished Service Medal its highest honor for federal employees, awarded for extraordinary contributions to the agency’s mission, while specialized medals recognize achievements in fields ranging from spaceflight and engineering to leadership and bravery.
The accompanying Kerrigan volume is particularly appropriate to the group and is itself a recognized specialist reference devoted specifically to NASA medals and decorations. Published by Medallic Publishing Co. in 1990, the 68-page work documents the development and varieties of the awards created during the American space age. BookScouter Together, the medals and reference book form an attractive and unusually comprehensive display collection illustrating the award system developed alongside NASA’s historic programs from the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo era through later space exploration.
The medals exhibit varying finishes, ribbon patterns, and construction styles and appear to represent multiple periods and types within the NASA award series. No recipient attribution, presentation documentation, or individual award provenance accompanies the group; therefore the medals are offered as collectible NASA medallic examples rather than as documented recipient-awarded decorations. This distinction is particularly important with NASA medals, as officially presented examples with recipient engraving and direct provenance command a substantially different level of historical significance. An excellent collection for the specialist in NASA, Apollo-era memorabilia, U.S. space exploration, government decorations, medallic art, or aerospace history. Please examine all photographs carefully for individual medal types, ribbon configurations, manufacture, condition, and completeness.
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