Apollo Artifacts

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.

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."

Apollo Spacecraft News Reference for Lunar Module and Command Module

These Apollo News Reference Manuals were used by journalists who covered the Apollo program. It took me four years to acquire a pair as these manuals have become highly sought after. The pair include almost 500 pages of in depth detail about the Apollo spacecraft in the words of the contractors who built them.

Chapters include: Crew Systems, Displays and Controls, Docking, Earth Landing, Electrical Power, Environmental Control, Launch Escape, Reaction Control, Service Propulsion, Stabilization & Control, Telecommunications, Guidance & Navigation, Space Suit, Automatic Checkout Equipment, Kennedy Space Center Operations, Training Equipment, Test & Reliability, Manufacturing, Launch Vehicles, Mission Description, Crew Personal Equipment, Propulsion, Electrical Power, Lighting, PLSS, LM Anatomy, Biographies and more.

Apollo CSM Cryogenic ground umbilical coupler

This coupler was used for supplying liquid Oxygen to the Apollo Fuel Cell storage tanks. Subcontracted by North American Aviation (builder of the CSM) to Fairchild Hiller Corporation under NASA Contract NAS9-150 (CSM).

Cryogenic Hydrogen and Oxygen comprised the constituent reactants used by the onboard Fuel cells to provide power, drinking water and heating. The Oxygen tanks also supplied metabolic breathing oxygen to the crew.

Apollo Service Module RCS Helium Pressurization Solenoid Valve

Helium is supplied to the Reaction Control System propellant with the helium pressure used drive the propellant out of the bladders at the proper feed rate to the R-4D reaction control engines in the quads.

The helium isolation valves between the helium tank and pressure regulators contain two solenoids: one solenoid is energized momentarily to unlatch the valve, and spring pressure and helium pressure forces the valve closed. The helium isolation valves in each quad are individually controlled by their own individual SM RCS Helium switch on Command Module panel MDC-2.

The momentary OPEN position energizes the valve into the magnetic latch (open). The momentary CLOSE position energizes the valve to unlatch the magnetic latch (closed). The center position removes electrical power from either solenoid. The valves are normally open in respect to system pressure substantiating the magnetic latching feature for power conservation purposes during the mission in addition to prevent overheating of the valve coil.

Thanks to Scott Schneeweis for the technical description of this interesting artifact.

Accessory Products Company
Solenoid Valve, Helium
part # 512000-0014
serial # 100200000059
control # ME 284-0336-0014
contract # NAS 9-150

Rope memory module for the Model 100 Apollo Guidance and Navigation Computer

This is a rare rope memory module made for the Block I (before the Apollo 1 fire) Model 100 Apollo Guidance and Navigation Computer.  The computers that formed the basis of the Apollo Guidance and Navigation System (AGNS) were at the cutting edge of technology in the 1960s. They were the first to use the integrated circuit technology that subsequently gave us desktop computers and so many of the consumer electronic products that fill our lives today.

Each computer had two types of memory, erasable and fixed. The fixed memory contained the programs, constants and landmark coordinates using 36,864 terms or words, each of 15 bits length. That came to a grand total of 74 kilobytes of memory.

The fixed memory was made from coincident-current ferrite cores woven into a rope with copper wires and sealed in plastic. Software components were encoded into a core according to the "pattern" of its weave. Each core functioned as a small transformer, with up to 64 wires connected to each core. If a wire passed through a particular core, a "1" would be read. If a particular wire bypassed the core, a "0" would be read. If you wanted to change the software contained in fixed memory, you had to rewire the sealed core to change the bits. The erasable memory was made from similar materials but with a different design. Each core in the erasable memory could be changed using magnets. Turning clockwise to indicate a "1" or anti-clockwise indicating a "0".

The module is labeled: C P ASSY 1031103 NO.  1003733-011, MFG BY RAYTHEON CO., SERIAL NO. RAY 4

Thanks to Jim Loocke for the technical description of this artifact.

Apollo 9 heat shield plug Lucite display

This is a circular chunk of the heat shield from Apollo 9. Heat shields were manufactured by AVCO Corporation, with integration by NAA (North American Aviation), and are comprised of an extremely lightweight fiberglass honeycomb which is hand filled by air gun with the ablative resin material. The ablative system dissipates heat as the material melts and chars during re-entry, mitigating the 20,000 degree heat experienced by the CSM as it transits through the extreme thermo-dynamic phase of the re-entry corridor.

Contractor press kits relating to the Apollo 11 mission

 

I've worked in marketing and PR my entire career and am fascinated by the press kits put out by NASA and by the contractors. I was fortunate to have acquired a set of complete press kits used by a journalist while covering the Apollo 11 mission. Included are press kits from IBM (Computer systems), North American Rockwell (Command Module), Grumman (Lunar Module), TRW (Engines), and several other kits not pictured here.

Apollo spacecraft accessories bag

Bags of this type were used by astronauts to store items in the Command Module and Lunar Module. While  bags of this type flew on most Apollo missions, unfortunately the Apollo Stowage Lists did not record the serial numbers of the bags that flew to the moon.

This accessories bag was manufactured by Welson & Co. on February 5, 1971. It is part number SEB 13100114-701, serial number 1257

Flown Altimeter Plug from Apollo 12

The Altimeter in the Apollo CM (panel 1) was operational below 50,000 feet. Therefore it was only used by the crew during the early stages of initial powered ascent and then again at the very end of the mission. For the rest of the mission the altimeter was typically covered by an aluminum stopper.

This stopper was flown to the moon on the Apollo 12 mission. It was acquired from the personal collection of Apollo 12 Command Module Pilot Dick Gordon.

The accelerometer (G-force meter) was also only used in the early and late parts of the mission and had a similar, but slightly smaller, stopper.