Tom Stafford – Apollo 10 crew at pad

Rare 8" × 10" glossy photograph of the Apollo 10 crew at the launch pad, hand-signed by mission commander Tom Stafford and inscribed, “Fastest crew in the world.”

Flown in May 1969, Apollo 10 was the final full dress rehearsal for the first Moon landing. Stafford, John Young and Gene Cernan tested the complete Apollo spacecraft in lunar orbit, with Stafford and Cernan flying the Lunar Module to within approximately 15 kilometres of the Moon’s surface. During the return to Earth, the crew reached the highest speed ever recorded by humans.

Stafford was generally reluctant to add lengthy inscriptions or annotations to signed photographs, making this exceptional inscription especially desirable.

Mint condition.