John Glenn's Mercury 6 instructions offered at Nate D Sanders

The in-flight instructions astronaut John Glenn used during the 1962 Mercury 6 mission could make more than $25,000 at Nate D Sanders.

Glenn piloted the craft alone, becoming the first American to orbit the Earth.

Gemini flown instructions
John Glenn used the instructions to get his bearings on the Mercury 6 mission

The lot features a timeline identifying the geographical and astrological markers he should be seeing as the mission progressed.

The auction house comments: "All data on the instructions was personally used by Glenn to confirm the capsule's flight path during its 4 hour and 55 minute mission, instructing Glenn at which point to take photos in flight.

"Instructions also include an in-flight check list that covers such tasks as 'Chng Film-Color Filter Out' and 'STOW & R. SEQ CHK CET'…

"The in-flight instructions were given by Glenn to Frogman Richard 'Dick' Dunham of UDT-21 (Underwater Demolition Team) as a thank you memento for his work with Mercury 6."

Glenn left NASA in 1964 and ran for office in Ohio.

He was elected in 1974.

He achieved another first in 1998, when he became the oldest man (and the first senator) in space. He was 77 at the time.

The July 21 sale will also feature an Apollo 13 flown Robbins medal, which is offered with an opening bid of $4,750.

The lot comes from the collection of Jack Swigert, who served as command module pilot during the mission.

We have a remarkable selection of space memorabilia for sale.

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