Moon Moolah: Auction Bidders Can Buy Memoirs of NASA's Apollo Program [Slide Show]
Here are 10 items from the dozens of space race artifacts, including a piece of an actual manned lunar spacecraft, that will be auctioned off April 13
![Moon Moolah: Auction Bidders Can Buy Memoirs of NASA's Apollo Program [Slide Show]](https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/3C97D98D-EA69-43E9-B9A14BF3129196A9.jpg?w=590&h=393)
Moon Moolah: Auction Bidders Can Buy Memoirs of NASA's Apollo Program [Slide Show]
- APOLLO MANNED LUNAR LANDING PROFILE This 76– by 28–centimeter lithograph is a detailed visual representation of the complex flight procedures required to accomplish a lunar landing. The diagram has 85 labeled steps illustrating how a lunar mission unfolds.
Estimated bid: $8,000 to $12,000 COURTESY OF BONHAMS NEW YORK - ONE SMALL STEP On this page of his flight plan, Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong inscribed his famous line that he had uttered while taking his first step onto the lunar surface, "[That's] one small step for man—one giant leap for mankind," a few days after returning to Earth (while he was still in quarantine). The sheet is from the timeline section of the flight plan covering the preparations for Armstrong's moonwalk.
Estimated bid: $60,000 to $80,000 COURTESY OF BONHAMS NEW YORK - DEKE SLAYTON'S FLOWN LAPEL PIN This 14-carat-gold lapel pin, which includes an inset diamond at the top, is shaped in the form of three trajectories merging into a star, encircled by an ellipse representing orbital flight. The pin was presented to astronaut Deke Slayton by the widows of the Apollo 1 astronauts killed during a launch pad fire in their command module during a preflight test. Astronaut Neil Armstrong carried the pin with him on the historic Apollo 11 flight that would bring the first astronauts to the lunar surface.
Estimated bid: $80,000 to $120,000 COURTESY OF BONHAMS NEW YORK - CRITICAL FLIGHT NOTES AND UPDATES BY LOVELL AND HAISE MADE DURING APOLLO 13 This lunar module contingency checklist was flown on Apollo 13, which did not land on the moon because of an oxygen tank explosion en route that caused a series of spacecraft failures, including the loss of the primary life support and fuel-cell power systems—a contingency for which these documents described emergency procedures. Mission Control radioed changes to the emergency power-down procedures listed on these directions in order to conserve sufficient battery power to survive the return trip to Earth. Other adjustments were likewise handwritten on these pages.
Estimated bid: $20,000 to $30,000 COURTESY OF BONHAMS NEW YORK - SUN FILTER CARRIED TO THE LUNAR SURFACE, WITH LUNAR DUST This crewman optical alignment sight (COAS) sun filter, flown on Apollo 12, has a 13-centimeter square metal frame, 3.8-centimeter-diameter tinted glass, a small Velcro tab and a 15-centimeter-long strap with embedded lunar dust. Astronaut Charles Conrad used the filter to help locate the landing site of the Surveyor 3, an unmanned probe that soft landed on the moon in 1967. The filter was used in bright sunlight and logged more than 31 hours on the lunar surface.
Estimated bid: $20,000 to $30,000 COURTESY OF BONHAMS NEW YORK - FLOWN APOLLO 11 LUNAR SUFRACE EQUIPMENT WITH LUNAR DUST This data file clip is made from two plates of aluminum 5.7 by 4.4 centimeters long. A spring mounted between the plates provides the tension to hold them closed so as to grip checklist sheets, flight maps and any loose articles floating in the weightless conditions during the journey to the moon or in the one-sixth gravity environment on the lunar surface. The dark material in the Velcro on the clip's cover is most likely moondust from the astronauts' spacesuits or other equipment.
Estimated bidding: $30,000 to $40,000 COURTESY OF BONHAMS NEW YORK - APOLLO FDAI COMMAND MODULES MAIN CONTROL PANEL FLIGHT INSTRUMENT The Flight Director Attitude Indicator (FDAI) instrument is contained within a cylindrical metal housing 28 centimeters long and nearly 18 centimeters in diameter. A small "eight ball" globe inside the unit defines the relative location of the spacecraft in three-dimensional space. The Apollo astronauts—aircraft pilots first and foremost—wanted a spacecraft instrument similar to an airplane's attitude indicator or "artificial horizon".
Whereas an aircraft's attitude indication provides the pilot with a reference to Earth's surface below, the FDAI needs to indicate relative positional information for a vehicle orbiting a planet or traveling through space between Earth and the moon.
Estimated bidding: $25,000 to $35,000 COURTESY OF BONHAMS NEW YORK - APOLLO 14 DUST BRUSH USED ON THE LUNAR SURFACE This 20-centimeter-long lens dust brush boldly journeyed were few men had gone before—to the moon's surface. Astronauts Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell stayed nearly 34 hours on the moon's surface during the Apollo 14 mission. This brush was used to ensure that camera lenses were free of lunar dust prior to photographs being taken of the U.S. flag-raising, experiment deployments and selective lunar sample gathering. The cameras were mounted on the astronauts' moonsuits as well as on the handcart they used to carry scientific and geologic sampling equipment. Estimated bidding: $70,000 to $90,000 COURTESY OF BONHAMS NEW YORK
- APOLLO 14 DOCKING RING NASA's decision to fly Apollo missions using lunar orbit rendezvous required the development of a mechanism to join, separate and then rejoin two spacecraft. That's where this 18-kilogram titanium ring—91 centimeters in diameter and 15 centimeters high—came in. This system also had to allow astronauts to move internally between the connected command and lunar modules. NASA chose an impact system consisting of a probe located at the forward end of the command module and a funnel-type device located at the top of the lunar module. Once the two spacecraft were joined, a series of latches around the docking ring locked the vehicles together. The probe segment was then removed to create an airtight tunnel so the crew could travel between the docked vehicles. NASA claims this ring is the largest and heaviest spacecraft structural component that has traveled to lunar orbit ever to be offered at auction. Estimated bidding: $80,000 to $120,000 COURTESY OF BONHAMS NEW YORK
