Printed Books & Early American Photography, including Selections from the Larry Ness Collection

Personal file of NASA rocket scientist Jesco von Puttkamer (1933-2012), comprised of letters (one by astronaut James Irwin), handwritten drafts of space shuttle calculations, Star Trek material (in German), and printed space articles including a draft of a proposed science fiction film he was writing entitled “The Peacemakers.” Puttkamer earned a degree in mechanical engineering at Aachen Germany before Werner von Braun brought him to Huntsville, Alabama in 1962, to work at the Marshall Space Flight Center as an engineer and program manager in charge of long-range planning of deep-space flights. An advocate of manned space exploration and SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, Puttkamer worked with von Braun on the Saturn V rocket, which was used in the first moon landing of Apollo 11. In 1974 he transferred to NASA Headquarters in Washington DC, where he became a technical manager for the International Space Station. Also a science fiction author, Puttkamer served as the technical advisor for “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” in 1979. His novelette, “The Sleeping God,” was included in an anthology of works based on the series, Star Trek: The New Voyages 2. 

Highlights of the file contains two pages of Puttkaner’s handwritten notes (in German) dated January 8, 1986, that appear to be timelines or calculations for Columbia space shuttle mission STS 61C—that was launched 4 days after these notes. The Challenger disaster occurred 20 days after this launch. Also, a February 19, 1984 TLS by astronaut James Irwin (signed “Jim Irwin”) as President of the High Flight Foundation, to Puttkamer regarding the film project “The Peacemakers.” Irwin writes, in part; “… I appreciate your willingness to work with Michael Bamberger on this film project… I wish I had had your paper a little earlier because I was a gust at a TV luncheon in San Francisco about a week ago. The theme was The Future and I could have used some of your ideas. Also on the panel were Scott Carpenter, James McDivitt, Gene Cernan and Bob Parker. Since I did not have your imput (sic), I spoke about man’s basic nature to explore and ended with the thought that “the heavens declare the glory of God.”… I shall be in the Washington area later… and perhaps there will be time for me to meet with you?....” Also included is a multi-paged printed script (in German) entitled “Star Trek - Der Film” (i.e., “The cover picture is the same as the English version of 'Star Trek – The Motion Picture.'" The file includes 1984 draft versions of “The Peacemakers” and copies of other space and science fiction articles written by Puttkamer. There are a few signed letters from a Michael Bamberger in Munich, mostly in German, but one in English indicating that Puttkamer and Gene Rodenberry were trying to enter into a contract to produce Puttkamer’s film. There are also handwritten notes by Puttkammer, mostly in German, but some in English which mention camera angles, zoom in, etc., and some pages of hand written notes, mostly in German that conclude “Happy End “ followed by German words translated to read “since the youth market doesn’t believe in death anyway.” 

An interesting lot.