Apollo Artifacts

Apollo 11 flown flight plan page

This is page 3-108a from the Apollo 11 flight plan. The sheet is from the detailed timeline section located at the beginning of hour 150 in the mission. The flight plan was the most significant documentation used by the astronauts on Apollo 11.

The page has a grid of terms and values associated with mid-course correction engine burn number 5, including pitch and yaw rates, attitude deviation, engine shutdown time, and residuals.

The MCC5 was an eleven second burn using Columbia’s Reaction Control System thrusters which were fired at 150 hours, 29 minutes into the mission. The retrograde maneuver changed Columbia’s velocity by approximately 4.8 feet per second in order to fine-tune the flight path angle into the entry corridor of the earth’s atmosphere.

The burn was small in relation to Columbia’s velocity of 4,075 feet per second at that time, but was critical to align to the center of the corridor. Too shallow and the spacecraft would skip off, too steep and it would burn up.

I particularly like this page because this MCC5 burn is described on page 424 in Apollo 11 Command Module Pilot Michael Collins’ book Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut’s Journey.

Apollo 13 Lunar Module Malfunction Procedures checklist used in training

An original 8½"x 11" Apollo 13 Lunar Module Malfunction Procedures checklist dated April 1, 1970 (10 days before the launch of Apollo 13).

The checklist contains 14 sections with about 40 total page sides of LM malfunction procedures from the AOH. Sections include G&C Displays, AGS, RCS, Comm, Heaters, Camera, and more.

This particular copy was kept in the crew quarters at Kennedy Space Center for Apollo 13 Commander James Lovell and LM pilot Fred Haise reference during the critical final days leading up to launch on April 11, 1970.

An identical copy flew to the moon on Apollo 13 and would have travelled to the lunar surface had the mission not encountered its famous problems.

Apollo 16 LM Rendezvous Charts used in simulator training

An original 8½"x 10½" Apollo 16 LM Rendezvous Charts book dated in pencil March 21, 1971.

It contains 20 pages of fascinating Lunar Module Ascent tables. Sections include Nominal Ascent sections, Direct Ascent sections and First and Second Midcourse corrections sections.

A copy just like it would have flown to the moon on Apollo 16.

This set of charts was the simulator copy and used in training by Apollo 16 astronauts John Young and Charlie Duke in the Lunar Module Simulator. Notes made by Young and Duke in pencil are visible on several pages. Used extensively at the time, but still good shape.

Flown Apollo 17 lunar surface checklist page

This is page 7-8 of the Apollo 17 lunar surface checklist, used on the lunar surface during the last lunar landing mission. The other side of this is page 7-7.

I find this particular checklist page fascinating because it details the last sleep period that humans enjoyed on the lunar surface. Scheduled to begin at 174:39 hours into the mission, the crew status report notations (made on the surface inside Lunar Module America) indicate that Commander Gene Cernan slept 5 hours and Lunar Module Pilot Jack Schmidt slept 6 hours.

Click the image and note the smudges of lunar dust on the checklist page.

In this photo of the Apollo 17 crew taken prior to the mission, you can see the many cue cards and checklists that will be taken aboard the spacecraft. Interesting, the lunar surface checklist (with black writing on the edge) is opened to this very page.

Flown Apollo 9 Command Module flown cue card

This oddly shaped cue card fit snugly into a particular spot on the command module control panel. The cue card provides quick instructions for problems faced by the crew.

I really like this cue card because some of the issues it deals with – such as Oxygen, CO2, Glycol, and Cyro – uses instrument readouts found on Apollo Command Module Main Control Panel 2F, and an unflown example is in this collection. The CM Panel 2F controls the Cryogenics and Environmental System controls and is positioned in front of the CM pilot and LM pilot.

In the photo below, taken prior to launch, you can see the Apollo 9 crew with their checklists and cue cards as they prepare for the mission.

Apollo 15 CSM Updates checklist used in training

This 6"x 8" Apollo 15 CSM Updates training manual dated March 29, 1971 was used in the Mission Simulator and then used for study in the astronaut crew quarters just prior to mission launch.

The checklist consists of six tabbed sections including P30 Maneuver, P37 Block Data, Earth Orbit Block Data, P27 Update, P24 Landmark Tracking and Flight Plan Update.

I particularly enjoy the annotations (most likely made by CMP Al Worden) that have been made in various parts of the manual.

Apollo 13 Lunar Module TD+2 Star Chart used in training

This 8-3/4" diameter star chart consists of a black star disc below and a semitransparent rotating disc. The rings on the outer disc signify what stars would be seen through the LM Optical Telescope at certain times during the stay on the moon.

Star charts like this were used on every lunar landing mission to orient the LM just prior to liftoff. The star chart is dated for a launch date of 11 April 1970 (Apollo 13), and was to be used in case the Lunar Module had to leave the moon's surface within 2 hours after landing (TD+2 means Touchdown + 2 Hours).

Each Lunar Module carried two similar star charts – this one for an immediate liftoff, and another for liftoff after the stars had precessed across the sky during their stay on the moon. This star chart was used in the Lunar Module Simulator during the training for Apollo 13.

My friend Larry McGlynn has written an excellent two-part overview of the star charts of Apollo. Links here: Part one and part two.

Apollo 13 CSM Launch Checklist used in training

This checklist containing more than 100 pages on 8 by 6 inch card stock was the personal training copy of Apollo 13 lunar module pilot Fred Haise.

This manual lists the events that occurred during the Saturn V launch and has specific steps to be carried out by the flight crew. Sections cover boost preps, launch trajectory, launch aborts, boost, orbit insertion and orbital check-outs, TLI preps, and booster (S-IV-B) separation. An emergency section printed on pink paper covers the MODE I to IV aborts. The last sections cover Earth re-entry procedures in the event that that the flight remained in Earth orbit and did not travel to the moon.

For space geeks like me, this checklist makes fascinating reading.

Apollo 17 Command Module Flown CSM Malfunction Procedures Book

From the Personal Collection Mission Commander Gene Cernan this 8.5" x 10.5" book of approximately 140 pages separated by tabs bound in stiff covers with three binder rings.

The tabs include (in order) G&C, SCS, G&N, SPS, RCS, CRYO, FUEL CELL, PW, T/C, ECS, EMS, DOCK & HATCH, EVA, CAMERA, and REAL TIME CHECKLIST.

The Part Number is "SKB32100123-341" and the Serial Number is "1001". This is essentially a troubleshooting guide for anything that might have gone wrong with the command module and thus was a critical and important reference on board the flight.

href="http://freshspot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451f23a69e20120a718a660970b-popup" onclick="window.open( this.href, '_blank', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0' ); return false">
In this photo of the Apollo 17 crew taken prior to the mission, you can see the many cue cards and checklists that will be taken aboard the spacecraft.

Apollo 13 flown launch abort cue card

This cue card was from the personal collection of Fred W. Haise, Apollo 13 Lunar Module Pilot.

The information that Haise supplied about the card reads:
"This cue card was carried around the moon on the flight of Apollo 13 during April 11 to 17, 1971. This card was positioned on the instrument panel with Velcro during the launch to be used in the event of a Mode III abort. This abort mode became available in the period of launch just before achieving the Abort-to-Orbit capability. On the cards are blanks to be filled in for a manually executed SPS retrograde maneuver such as Time Of Ignition (TIG), Burn Time (BT), Pitch attitude, Ground Elapsed Time (GET) to reach 300k feet altitude, Pitch attitude reaching .05G, and the time for Drogue parachute deployment. The burn was to change velocity by 6999.9 feet per second to assure an Atlantic splashdown short of the African continent. We did not have to use this card but did have to deal with a much more complicated abort case on Apollo 13."