My space buddy Erik and I took a backstage tour of the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum today. We saw a preview of the 3D scan of the Apollo 11 capsule that Autodesk has been working on for a July 20 unveil. Here is some video I took of the work in process: https://youtu.be/C5LberlntA8 The scan looked in all directions from the center seat and discovered writing on the wall made by Michael Collins as he orbited the moon during the historic first moon walk. He used the wall to write down coordinates from Houston of where to look for the Eagle on each overhead pass. He never found them on the surface.
In the photos you can see 3D print in nylon of Neil Armstrong’s glove, and the Apollo 11 capsule. Autodesk wants to scan the Apollo 11 handle that I have (see https://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/14480682307) as it is the only flown example from the Apollo program. All of the others were destroyed as radioactive waste, and the ones you see on the capsule are post-flight replacements.
Most the photos I took today are of the recently discovered bag of Apollo 11 Eagle artifacts that Neil Armstrong brought back and the cutaway RL-10 that I have been looking for (more on all that later as I have more to see).
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