At the recent Folk Cafe in FMC at Trinity one of the musicians said he was going to play the Harmonica. He held up the tiniest one I think any of us had ever seen. Before he started to play he told us a bit about it.
In December 1965 the two astronauts, who were going on the Gemini VI Mission smuggled on board a Hohner “Little Lady “Harmonica and a small set of bells. The harmonica measured 4×1.3×1 cm. On the 16th December just as they were about to re-enter earth’s atmosphere Wally made an announcement to Mission Control and to Gemini V11 that they were going to pick up a strange object and then the two of them proceeded to play Jingle Bells on the smuggled instruments. Needless to say, this was huge surprise to all.
Our gentleman then played Jingle Bells on his tiny harmonica. It’s not just good music we listen to and enjoy at the Folk Cafe but we continually learn from each other. We made new friends and we were delighted to see old friends. God gave someone the knowledge as to how to create this little instrument and we were thrilled to listen to the result.
The original “Little Lady” is safely exhibited in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.