The Apollo 16 COAS arrived today, and I can’t stop thinking about it.
After landing on the moon, this was the optical sighting tool (like an analog heads-up display) that allowed the ascending lunar module to dock with the orbiting CSM… a critical rendezvous with the lifeboat that would take the astronauts back home.
Along with 95 kg of lunar samples, Commander John Young also detached and transferred his optical sight, bringing it back as a souvenir, and keeping it for 37 years.
The rest of the Apollo 16 lunar module ascent stage was left in lunar orbit, to eventually decay and crash into the moon.
Young took his commander’s sight with him, but he also left something behind on the moon – a free Estonia flag – from my homeland, temporarily occupied by the Soviets at the time. A prescient dream…
Here is the description by the Heritage Auctions house:
“Apollo 16 Lunar Module Flown Crewman Optical Alignment Sight (COAS) Directly from the Personal Collection of Mission Commander John Young, Certified and Signed. Used on the Apollo 16 Lunar Module Orion that spent nearly three full days on the moon’s surface. From NASA “The COAS provides the Commander with gross range cues and closing rate cues during the docking maneuver. The closing operation, from 150 feet to contact, is an ocular, kinesthetic coordination that requires control with minimal use of fuel and time. The COAS provides the Commander with a fixed line-of-sight attitude reference image, which appears to be the same distance away as the target. The COAS is a collimating instrument. It weighs approximately 1.5 pounds, is 8 inches long, and operates from a 28-volt dc power source. [It] consists of a lamp with an intensity control, a reticle, a barrel-shaped housing and mounting track, and a combiner and power receptacle… The COAS is capped and secured to its mount above the left window (position No. 1). To use the COAS, it is moved from position No. 1 to its mount on the overhead docking window frame (position No. 2) and the panel switch is set from OFF to OVHD. The intensity control is turned clockwise until the reticle appears on the combiner glass; it is adjusted for required brightness.”
The Autonetics/ North American Rockwell metal plate attached has the information as follows: “SIGHT – OPTICAL ALIGNMENT – LM/ ME331-0018-0025”, Part Number “41070-701-31”, Serial Number “06359-0969 BKA”, and Contract Number “NAS 9-150”.
Part of the Future Ventures’ 🚀 Space Collection.
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