NASA Astronaut Mercury 7 Wally Schirra signed F4 Phantom Smoke Trails back cover

Description

This is a Quarterly Journal of the F-4 Phantom II Society "Smoke Trails" magazine, published in 1993.  It is Volume 7, Number 3.  On the back cover is a rendering of a USAF F-4E Phantom II called The Animal, produced by artist John Doughty.  On the back cover it is signed by NASA Mercury 7 Astronaut Wall Schirra.  It says "To John - thanks for the lift! Wally Schirra". (See photos).
Wally Schirra was a member of the Mercury 7 NASA Astronaut team, and was the 5th American to fly into space.
He was the first astronaut to go into space three times, and the only astronaut to have flown in the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs.
In total, Schirra logged 295 hours and 15 minutes in space. After Apollo 7, he retired as a captain from the U.S. Navy as well as from NASA, subsequently becoming a consultant t
o CBS News
in the network's coverage of following Apollo flights. Schirra joined Walter Cronkite
as co-anchor for all seven of NASA's Moon landing missions.
A rare signed piece of history from an American NASA Astronaut.
Item will be shipped free by US Priority Mail with insurance and tracking number.
On Aug-24-21 at 08:00:59 PDT, seller added the following information:
The artist, John Doughty was at the Smoke Trails office picking up a copy of the magazine which featured his painting "The Animal" on the back cover when he was introduced to Mr. Schirra, who was visiting the office.  He was gracious to sign the magazine for him and also teased the artist about doing a USAF F-4 Phantom and not a Navy version.  Mr. Schirra took out a pen he had and signed the magazine for him.