Apollo Artifacts

Apollo 17 flown LM Data Card Book

David Meerman Scott — Tue, 14 Oct 2025 22:29:47 +0000

Apollo 17 flown LM Data Card Book

This 3-hole punched Apollo 17 LM Data Card Book acquired from the Gene Cernan collection was carried to the lunar surface and used aboard the Apollo 17 lunar module Challenger in the Taurus-Littrow valley of the moon during the last Apollo lunar landing mission in December 1972.

The LM Data Card Book contains templates for recording Pre-Advisory Data (PAD), which was used throughout the flight of the Lunar Module and the stay on the surface. Each card was used as a concise document for making notations on LM operations including LM activation, aborts, rendezvous and docking.

When large lists of PAD numbers were read from Mission Control to Jack Schmitt and Gene Cernan while in the LM, they used this book to record the data necessary to carry out a particular maneuver. To simplify the voice transmission of these large lists of numbers and reduce the likelihood of errors, each type of PAD was precisely formatted and aligned for use in Mission Control and this book.

The writing in these pages was all written while on the surface of the moon. The data contained in the data cards can be tracked in the official mission transcripts of the 75-hour stay upon the lunar surface.

The photo of a similar data card book on the LM control panel is from Apollo 11 photo AS11-36-5389H.

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.

Apollo 12 Flown Command Module Rotational Controller Handle

David Meerman Scott — Tue, 10 Jun 2014 04:20:24 +0000

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

David Meerman Scott — Mon, 14 Apr 2014 04:53:40 +0000

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.

Apollo 10 Lunar Module flown right angle camera bracket

David Meerman Scott — Sun, 03 Nov 2013 13:44:11 +0000

Apollo 10 Lunar Module flown right angle camera bracket

This bracket was carried to the moon and used aboard the Lunar Module Snoopy during the Apollo 10 mission in May 1969.

The L Bracket was the connection between the 16mm Maura Data Acquisition Camera and the LM Utility bracket. The bracket attached directly to the camera and the LM Utility (which could hold either the DAC or the spot lights) then clamped onto a bar in front of the LM window.

This Apollo 10 bracket was used with the first camera to film the approach to the Apollo 11 landing site to 50,000 feet. The prior photographs were all taken from 50 miles in altitude.

The photo of the L bracket and 16mm DAC camera in the window of the LM is from the Apollo 11 photo AS11-36-5389H.

Apollo 9 flown mechanical pencil

David Meerman Scott — Sun, 03 Nov 2013 12:47:07 +0000

Apollo 9 flown mechanical pencil

For most Apollo missions, the stowage lists show that each astronaut carried a Garland mechanical pencil.

According to Chris Spain’s excellent Space Flown Artifacts site, despite the worldwide fame of the Fisher Space Pen it is probably the humble Garland mechanical pencil that was the most heavily-used writing instrument on the Apollo missions.

In total, thirty-three of these Garland mechanical pencils were flown to the moon on board the Apollo lunar missions, and twelve of these pencils were carried to the lunar surface in the lunar modules.

This particular Garland mechanical pencil and its associated lanyard was used by Jim McDivitt during the Apollo 9 mission. You can see the lanyard from the pencil in McDivitt’s shoulder pocket during the mission.

Apollo 9 flown Command Module Star Chart Panel

David Meerman Scott — Sun, 03 Nov 2013 12:07:33 +0000

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.

ASTP flown DP boost cue card

David Meerman Scott — Sun, 03 Nov 2013 10:00:07 +0000

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

David Meerman Scott — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 09:13:02 +0000

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.

Apollo 13 flown launch abort cue card

David Meerman Scott — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 20:33:13 +0000

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.”