This beautifully crafted communications control assembly was used for routing communications, biomedical signals, and warning tones. The control head, often referred to as a “Cobra Head” by the astronauts, allowed the astronaut to speak to crewmates over the intercom (I’COM) or to Houston (XMIT).  This example contains NASA stamps identification part numbers V56-715100-21 0632 and the serial number AAJ9360.

The photo of Apollo 17 astronauts Gene Cernan (left) and Ron Evans provide a fine example of what this artifact would have looked like in flight.

Thanks to John Fongheiser of Historic Space Systems the technical description of this artifact.