Apollo Artifacts

Jim McDivitt’s Apollo 14 LRL badge

David Meerman Scott — Tue, 14 Oct 2025 20:21:18 +0000

Jim McDivitt’s Apollo 14 LRL badge

Jim McDivitt, who was Commander of Apollo 9, became Manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program in August 1969. He was the program manager for Apollo 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 missions.

This is his badge for gaining access to the Lunar Receiving Laboratory in Houston, TX for the Apollo 14 mission.

The LRL was where astronauts were quarantined and material returned from the moon was brought. After the Apollo 14 mission, it was determined that exposure to lunar dust was not hazardous to life on earth, so the astronaut quarantine procedures were discontinued, although lunar samples were still processed in the LRL for the remainder of the Apollo program.

Apollo 15 CSM Updates checklist used in training

David Meerman Scott — Tue, 14 Oct 2025 18:29:14 +0000

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.

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

Edgar Mitchell’s Apollo 14 flown heel restraints

David Meerman Scott — Tue, 14 Oct 2025 16:31:34 +0000

Edgar Mitchell’s Apollo 14 flown heel restraints

This pair of heel restraints was used in the Apollo 14 command module during liftoff.

They were used to secure the astronaut’s feet in place during the violent early stages of the Saturn V launch to prevent injury.

The restraints are made of a very lightweight metal and heavy duty stirrup straps with Velcro closures.

The items were manufactured by B. Welson Co.

I was able to acquire these heel restraints directly from Apollo 14 Lunar Module Pilot Edgar Mitchell.

Apollo 7 flown “Paul Haney: Are you a Turtle Cue?” card

David Meerman Scott — Sun, 04 Jan 2015 10:33:18 +0000

Apollo 7 flown "Paul Haney: Are you a Turtle Cue?" card

This is the cue card that Walt Cunningham held up during the Apollo 7 mission as a question for Paul Haney, NASA Public Affairs Officer and “Voice of Mission Control”.

The question refers to the Ancient and Honorable Order of Turtles. Once inducted, a member must reply to the question, “Are you a turtle?” with “You bet your sweet ass I am”. Otherwise, the member must buy the questioner a drink.

By showing the card, Haney was required to answer over an open microphone during the first Apollo telecast. Failure to answer obligated a Turtle Club member to buy drinks for all within hearing, presumably every Turtle club member watching the telecast.

The live exchange as captured by the in-flight recorder reads as follows:

CAPCOM radioed, “Just a minute, Wally. Let’s see. Oh, it’s a little message to Deke Slayton. A little bit closer Wally. Kind of looks like something about – ‘Are you a, are you a–” Schirra acknowledged, “That’s right.” CAPCOM continued, “Looks like it says, ‘Are you a turtle, Deke Slayton?”

Schirra confirmed, “That’s right.” Eisele added, “You get an A for reading today Jack.” Swigert continued, “Here comes another one. Walt, oh, that-a-way, that’s the way to turn it. It says, ‘Paul Haney, are you a turtle” Cunningham radioed, “You’ll get a gold star. Perfect score!” Swigert reported, “And there is no reply from Paul Haney there.” Cunningham asked, “You mean he’s speechless?”

A short while later, CAPCOM Cernan informed Schirra, “Wally, this is Gene. Deke just called in, and we’ve got your answer, and we’ve got it recorded for your return.” Schirra acknowledged, “Roger. Real fine.”

Shortly thereafter, Schirra asked CAPCOM Swigert, “Have you got Haney’s answer yet?” Swigert replied, “No, Haney’s isn’t talking, Wally.” Swigert then added, “Somebody tells me he isn’t talking, but just buying.” A pleased Schirra responded, “He is buying. Thank you very much. Very good.”

The card hung for many years in the National Air and Space Museum and later at Paul Haney’s home.

Omega Speedmaster Professional ST 105.012

David Meerman Scott — Mon, 15 Dec 2014 12:00:00 +0000

Omega Speedmaster Professional ST 105.012

This Omega Speedmaster Professional model ST 105.012 is the model watch with a 321 Calibre movement worn by both Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin during the Apollo 11, the first lunar landing mission, in July 1969.

Although Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong was first to set foot on the moon, he left his 105.012 Speedmaster inside the Lunar Module as a backup because the LM’s electronic timer had malfunctioned. Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin elected to wear his and so his “Speedy” became the first watch to be worn on the moon.

I’m thrilled to own an example of the world’s most famous chronograph.

According to the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal, NASA supplied each of the Apollo astronauts with a standard issue Omega Speedmaster Professional manual-wind wristwatch together with Velcro strap. Unlike almost all other Apollo equipment, the watch was not manufactured for use specifically by NASA or in space but had been the same model that had been on sale in retail outlets.

Aside from its primary and obvious function, the Omega Speedmaster Professional also incorporated a chronograph (stopwatch) via the large third hand on the watch dial. The three interior dials on the face provided respectively a) a second-hand, ancillary to the conventional time function b) a minute elapsed counter for the chronograph and c) an hour elapsed counter, again related to the chronograph function. The outside of the dial included a fixed bezel incremented to act as a Tachymeter (to measure miles per hour) in conjunction with the stopwatch function, hence the title “Speedmaster”.

The timepiece was intended to be worn for intra and extra vehicular activities including the moonwalks on all the missions. Inside a pressurized environment the watch was worn conventionally but during EVA (extra vehicular activity) the astronauts wore the watch on the outside of their pressure suits, the long Velcro strap was designed to accommodate this change in ‘wrist’ dimension.

My example has a slightly worn bezel. The face has some interesting toning which changes the dial from black to brownish. It did not come with an original band, so I put a modern Omega brown band on it and it looks terrific.

My selfie with Neil Armstrong

David Meerman Scott — Sun, 03 Nov 2013 12:56:50 +0000

My selfie with Neil Armstrong

At the Apollo 13 40th anniversary celebration at The Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center, I had an opportunity to meet and share a few words with “first man” Neil Armstrong.

I wanted to memorialize my meeting with a photo, but there was nobody near us to snap it. So like a teenager, I shot a “selfie”.

As his expression indicates, Neil thought the selfie approach was sort of funny. Despite being out of focus and not particularly flattering, I treasure this image.

It’s always an honor to meet veterans of the Apollo lunar program.

Peter Max Apollo 11 Moon Footprint art print

David Meerman Scott — Sun, 03 Nov 2013 11:49:22 +0000

Peter Max Apollo 11 Moon Footprint art print

This rare limited-edition Peter Max poster measuring 19″ x 12″ was issued on the 30th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

It’s signed by both Peter Max and Buzz Aldrin. The image takes the iconic boot photo from Apollo 11 and showcases Peter Max’s colorful cosmic 60’s style.

My Apollo 13 40th anniversary photo

David Meerman Scott — Sun, 03 Nov 2013 10:12:17 +0000

I attended the Apollo 13 40th anniversary celebration at The Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center.

In this photo, I am with Gene Kranz, NASA Flight Director from the Apollo 13 mission “Failure is not an option”, Fred Haise, Lunar Module pilot from Apollo 13, and Jim Lovell, Apollo 13 Commander “Houston we have a problem”.

We are in front of the Apollo 13 spacecraft.

It’s always an honor to meet veterans of the Apollo lunar program.

Neil Armstrong tribute to Apollo 12

David Meerman Scott — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 08:01:24 +0000

Neil Armstrong (Apollo 11 Commander) delivers a tribute at the Apollo 12 40th anniversary gala on November 7, 2009 at Kennedy Space Center.

I was sitting next to Apollo 12 LMP Alan Bean for the dinner so I had an ideal view.

Video is 7 minutes. I suggest letting it load before watching. Direct link to video here.

James Lovell and Fred Haise discuss what really happened on Apollo 13

David Meerman Scott — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 05:58:20 +0000

https://vimeo.com/7482702?fl=pl&fe=sh

Apollo 13 Commander James A. Lovell, Jr. and Lunar Module Pilot Fred W. Haise, Jr. discuss their mission at the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation event on November 6, 2009 at Kennedy Space Center. I was lucky to be sitting front row center.

The video is about 24 minutes and is edited from a 45-minute discussion. It is best to let the video partially load before watching. Video is better quality on Vimeo direct link here.

Some timeouts.

:00 – 11:00 What really happened on Apollo 13. Commander Lovell provides a very detailed discussion of the chain of events leading to the explosion.

11:00 – 16:00 Fred Haise describes where he was and whart he was doing during the explosion.

16:00 – 20:00 Haise discusses several inaccuracies in the movie Apollo 13.

20:00 – 21:30 Lovell describes his reaction when the crew learned that they were not going to be able to walk on the moon.

21:30 – 23:10 The crew discusses the use of a free return trajectory (vs. powered return).

23:10 – 24:00 Why the explosion happened at the perfect time.