Apollo Artifacts

Apollo Command Module Instrument Panel 16

This instrument panel controlled The Crewman Optical Alignment Sight (COAS) power and docking light controls for use in the critical maneuver of docking the Apollo Command Module with the Lunar Module.

It is located just below the docking window on the right side of the main instrument panel.

The COAS provided the Commander with gross range cues and closing rate cues during the docking maneuver through projecting a collimated image of an internal reticle on a nearly transparent 'combiner' angled at 45 degrees so that the image could be seen by the user.

This particular panel had been installed in the simulator and was used for training astronauts during simulated docking procedures.

Apollo Command Module Main Control Panel 2F

This CM Panel 2F controls the Cryogenics and Environmental System controls and is positioned in front of the CM pilot and LM pilot.

The panel contains cryogenic tank indicators, cabin fan switches, H2 and O2 heaters, O2 pressure, H2 and O2 fans, cabin temperature, and much more.

This panel is block I, but shares many similarities with the Block II version.

I particularly like this because this panel is known to many people due to Apollo 13. The "stir the tank" switch and "are we dead yet due to CO2" readout are on this panel. Even people who are not space collectors get excited about this because it is familiar from the Apollo 13 movie, so it is be fun to show to people and point out the bits from the film. This is, of course, not the actual panel that flew on Apollo 13 but rather an earlier model of that panel.

This panel is in great condition. It is clearly flight quality as all the switches and displays are definitely the real thing.

The size is approximately 18" x 16" x 20 pounds. The item is encased in oak with a handle and acrylic backing so it will stand up for display and I can carry it.

Apollo 12 Flown Command Module Rotational Controller Handle

My favorite artifact in my collection is this fantastic Command Module Rotational Controller Handle used on Apollo 12, which I acquired from the personal collection of Apollo 12 Lunar Module Pilot Alan Bean.

It is a milled aluminum handle, approximately 4.5" tall with a black "trigger" and indented finger grips.

This “joystick” was used in the Apollo 12 Command Module Yankee Clipper for manual control of the spacecraft across any of the three axes- pitch, roll, and yaw.

It was removed after the successful mission and presented to Lunar Module Pilot Alan Bean custom mounted to a walnut base with an engraved plate.

The wonderful NASA image of Apollo 12 Command Module Pilot Dick Gordon in the CM while he is in training for Apollo 12 clearly shows the handle over his left shoulder.

Flown Apollo 17 T&D cue card

This Apollo 17 T&D cue card was an important tool during the outbound journey from the earth to the moon.

It was used to ensure the correct sequence of maneuvers to execute the transposition and docking of the Command /Service Module (CSM) with the Lunar Module (LM) which for liftoff had been located in the Apollo Saturn V third stage (S-IVB).

The steps included separating the CSM from the S-IVB, pitching the CSM 180° and proceeding to dock with the LM by inserting a probe at the top the CSM into a drogue at the top of the LM.

Unlike many cue cards which were carried in the case of contingencies and never used, this cue card detailed a critical part of the mission.

Marquardt R-4D Apollo spacecraft attitude control engine

The Marquardt R-4D was developed as an attitude control thruster for the Apollo Service Module and Lunar Module.

Sixteen engines similar to this one were mounted on the exterior of each lunar module in four quadruple clusters and sixteen on each service module. Because both the lunar module and service module were jettisoned during the Apollo missions, no flown examples exist.

The Marquardt Corporation was awarded the contract to build the reaction-control rocket engines for the Apollo spacecraft in 1963. They were first flown in the unmanned Apollo-Saturn 201 test flight launched in February 1966. Designed for maneuvering in space, this was a bipropellant engine using hypergolic nitrogen tetroxide and hydrazine as propellants, generating 100+ pounds of thrust.

The Marquardt R-4D was used in other applications including the Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) which was cancelled. My engine was likely for that program.

The combustion chamber and nozzle are radiation cooled disilicide coated molybdenum to an expansion ration of 6.8 at which point a light-weight, thin-walled L-605 super alloy (Columbium alloy formally known as Nobium) expansion bell is attached which expands to a 40:1 area ratio.

Apollo use Characteristics:
Engine: 3.63 kg (8.00 lb). Chamber Pressure: 6.93 bar. Area Ratio: 164. Thrust to Weight Ratio: 13.7366869592086. Oxidizer to Fuel Ratio: 1.65. Coefficient of Thrust vacuum: 1.88806724749259.
Unfuelled mass: 3.63 kg (8.00 lb).
Height: 0.55 m (1.82 ft).
Diameter: 0.28 m (0.92 ft).
Thrust: 490 N (110 lbf).
Specific impulse: 312 s.

Apollo 8 RCA slow scan TV camera training unit

The slow-scan, black-and-white television system used on Apollo 7 and Apollo 8 shot only 10-frames per second with 320 lines of resolution. In comparison, had the American NTSC television standard of 1968 been chosen—525 interlaced lines, 30 frames per second—ten times more bandwidth would have been required.

Futuristic by 1968 standards, the ease of the RCA camera’s point-and-shoot design and pistol-grip control foreshadowed the appearance of the first consumer home video cameras of the 1980s. This lightweight camera was fitted with either a wide-angle lens (for shooting the astronauts inside the command module) or a telephoto lens (for shooting the Earth or the Moon).

The RCA slow-scan command module TV camera was used on Apollo 7 and Apollo 8, not only to broadcast images to an eager public, but also to test the use of real-time television feeds from spacecraft in Earth orbit and lunar orbit. The system was designed to send signals over all unified S-band NASA tracking stations while in Earth orbit, and through the three stations with 85-foot antennas located in Canberra, Australia, Goldstone, California, and Madrid, Spain, while broadcasting from lunar distances. As Apollo 8 was the first spacecraft to leave Earth orbit with humans aboard, live television was a critical component of the public relations aspects of the mission and a crucial test of the technologies that would eventually be used with upgraded TV cameras broadcasting images of humans on the surface of the Moon. The combined weight of the RCA camera and its cables and lenses was only 6.2 pounds, remarkably light given the technology of the time. The camera system was developed by RCA for a total contract cost to NASA of approximately $4.2 million.

This prototype camera has red "RCA" decals and manufacturers information on both sides. It was used in training for Apollo 8 and is signed in black sharpie on top by the complete Apollo 8 crew. This training camera was acquired from the Paul Haney Estate collection. During much of the Apollo program, Haney was NASA director of public affairs and it was his voice that broadcast audiences heard live from the Houston control room, explaining what was going on.

The top image is from this collection and is the training model. Below it a flown example of the camera from the Apollo 7 mission which is now in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC and below that is an RCA consumer ad talking up their role in Apollo.

Apollo 9 flown Command Module Star Chart Panel

This star chart panel was one of the metal guidance and control panels used at the navigation station in the lower equipment bay of the Command Module. This particular example was flown on Apollo 9 and comes from the Jim McDivitt collection.

These panels were a quick reference to information required for spacecraft maneuvers made during flight. Each of several panels was designed to fit into a backlit compartment in the G&N control panel on the navigation station. The removable panels allowed the backlight to shine through allowing astronauts to read program information or maps in low light conditions.

This panel is a map of the major stars and constellations in the southern hemisphere. It helped astronauts take star sightings to establish the spacecraft’s position (or “state vector”) in space.

Apollo Command Module storage locker U4

This locker, measuring 12.5" x 22.75" x 4.75" (at top- tapering to 2,25" at bottom) would mount in the upper section of the command module, above and behind the heads of the astronauts.

This particular design was made for the later "Apollo Applications" missions (Skylab and Apollo-Soyuz Test Project). The markings on the inside of the bi-fold door includes a part number "V56-331540" and "UNIT-119", signifying that this particular locker had been installed in Apollo CSM-119, which was the flight-ready rescue vehicle for the Skylab missions and backup craft for the ASTP (which is now on display at the Kennedy Space Center).

Note how the tapering maximizes the available space, with the locker shape following the spacecraft contours.

According to NASA documents, during a typical mission, stowage locker U4 contained “4 cassettes, 4 batteries for tape recorders, a 10 x 40 monocular, an intervalometer (Hasselblad), and a 250mm lens.”

ASTP flown DP boost cue card

This Apollo–Soyuz Test Project DP Boost cue card measuring 2.25 x 4" is directly from the Deke Slayton collection.

On the reverse of the card is a museum inventory control number from the time that the card was on display at the Astronaut Hall of Fame in Titusville, FL and the
Air and Space Museum in Huntsville, AL.

Cue cards were important items in the Command Module and Lunar Module. The quick reference data was displayed directly on the spacecraft control panels for easy viewing as can be seen in the photo.

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 of a block 1 version of this panel is in my 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.