Buzz Aldrin’s EVA flashlight used on his first space walk, back in the heavy-velcro era

Gemini 12 Flown EVA-Used Flashlight Originally from the Personal Collection of Mission Pilot Buzz Aldrin, a 5.5″ long brass flashlight wrapped mostly in Velcro (this flight took place just before the Apollo 1 fire) with a distorted lens, quite different than the ones used later on the Apollo missions.

Buzz Aldrin wrote: “This is one of two EVA flashlights I used on the flight of Gemini XII. During my extravehicular activity (EVA) or spacewalk of 13 November 1966, I exited my cabin seat and moved by hand rails to the adapter section of the Gemini XII spacecraft. I later unstowed two flashlights and mounted them to adjacent hand bars. At the end of my scheduled activities in the adapter section, I removed each light and attached them to Velcro strips on the thigh areas of my space suit and conducted other tests during this EVA. This light was available again for use during a stand up EVA the next day of my flight. The flashlight lens became distorted while exposed to the vacuum of space.”

Today is Buzz Aldrin’s 90th birthday! 🎂 🚀
and here’s a Gemini XII EVA video summary