Apollo Flown Cables

11 responses to “Apollo Flown Cables”

1. 

   solerena

   Nov 5, 2011 at 3:38 pm

   Nice, three days on a moon?:D

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2. 

   Mentifex

   Nov 5, 2011 at 5:13 pm

   I remember the first moon landing on Sun.20.JUL.1969. I had already been working for five years on my artificial intelligence that is now a full-blown AI Mind.

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3. 

   scleroplex

   Nov 5, 2011 at 8:56 pm

   🙂

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4. 

   scleroplex

   Nov 5, 2011 at 8:57 pm

   who comes up with the patches for each ‘mission’?

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5. 

   Pieces of Eye

   Nov 5, 2011 at 10:50 pm

   S-curves perhaps?

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6. 

   jurvetson

   Nov 5, 2011 at 11:54 pm

   heh… a complement to the J-Curve of work…

   [http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeany7] – The blue connector is my favorite too. It has a cool hexagonal spiral on the inside:
   

   [http://www.flickr.com/photos/scleroplex] – The flight crew has the duty to come up with the patch design, with the commander having the final say. They put a lot of thought into each of them.

   Al Wordon, for Apollo 15:
   "The mission patch for Apollo 15 was basically designed by the Italian dress designer, Emilio Pucci. We had as a crew evaluated some 540 different designs for our crew patch. They appeared either too mechanical or to have nothing to do with the flight, so finally, through a mutual friend, we asked Pucci if he would help us with the design. Now, Pucci, as I best recall, was an aeronautical engineer and had a good feeling for flight. With his artistic nature, we felt that he would be very helpful in the patch design. He did send us a design which was basically the same as the patch we eventually used, however the colors were in the normal Pucci blues, purples, and greens. We took his design, changed it from a square to a circular patch, made it red, white and blue, and put a lunar background behind the three stylized birds that were the major Pucci contribution. The symbology is of three stylized birds flying over the lunar surface, each indicating one of us who were on the flight. The lunar surface behind the patch shows the landing site (next to Hadley Rille at the foot of the Appenine Mountains) and directly behind the stylized birds is a crater formation that spells "15" in Roman numerals. You can also see from the stylized birds that they fly in formation with one on top and two closer to the lunar surface, indicating those who actually landed."

   Charles Duke, from Apollo 16, explained:
   "John, Ken and I had several basic ideas we wished to incorporate to commemorate our mission: patriotism, teamwork, and the moon. We wanted these ideas, plus the mission number and the names of the crew, to be displayed on our patch, and talked with a NASA graphic artist who designed exactly what we wanted. Basically, the design was a brown and white eagle with wings outstretched, perched atop a red, white, and blue American seal, over a gray lunar surface background. To show teamwork, the yellow NASA wishbone symbol of flight was placed on top of the seal, and then across the seal were written the words Apollo 16. Circling a blue and gold border were our names — YOUNG, MATTINGLY, and DUKE — and sixteen white stars to emphasize outer space and the number of our flight. We were very proud of this patch, which to us symbolized Apollo 16."

   (more info, for Apollo 15, and Apollo16)

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7. 

   scleroplex

   Nov 6, 2011 at 3:47 am

   many thanks 🙂

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8. 

   solerena

   Nov 6, 2011 at 5:04 am

   Sweet:)

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9. 

   jurvetson

   Nov 6, 2011 at 7:25 pm

   And a description of the umbilical cable:

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10. 

    Pieces of Eye

    Nov 6, 2011 at 9:03 pm

    [http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson] Good gravy, how many of these certified artifacts are there? Spaceships have a lot of parts. How long did they make the Commander sit down and write descriptions?

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11. 

    jurvetson

    Nov 6, 2011 at 9:31 pm

    Not many. In the case of the Apollo 16 items that were on the lunar surface (e.g., the copper cable above and LM COAS), they were supposed to stay behind. The only reason that there is any flown lunar hardware in private hands is thanks to some last minute scavenging by the astronauts. They brought these items through the hatch contrary to very specific instructions on what was to be brought back and what was to be left behind. Much is still on the moon, and the ascent stage of the LM de-orbits after the astronaut’s departure, crashing into the lunar surface.

    Reply