Saved from the Apollo 13 Lunar Module: the Flown Optical Eyepiece used to align the precise flight trajectory home

Pictured here with Apollo 13 Lunar Module Pilot Fred Haise after having given it to John Young. Young served as backup commander for this ill-fated mission that, two days into the flight on April 13, 1970, suffered a major onboard explosion. The courageous crew, with the help of Mission Control in Houston managed to make it safely back to Earth, using this eyepiece at critical junctures. This crew presented Young with this plaque showing their appreciation for his help and support.

Jim Lovell recounted in the official NASA history of the mission: “We had many crises on Apollo 13, but the biggest heart-stopper has hardly been noticed, partly because the transcription released to the press was garbled, and partly because there wasn’t much point in talking about a crisis that had been averted earlier. We had transferred the CM platform alignment to the LM, but we had to make sure that this alignment was accurate before we made the long P.C.+2 burn. So what to do? A genius in Mission Control came up with the idea of using the Sun to check accuracy of our alignment. No amount of debris could blot out that star! Its large diameter could result in considerable error, but nobody had a better plan. When I looked through the AOT, the Sun just had to be there. It really had to be. And it was. At 73:46 hours, the air-to-ground transcript sounds like a song from ‘My Fair Lady’. If we raised our voices, I submit it was justified. (from the song ‘’The Rain in Spain’ from the popular 1956 musical and its 1964 film adaptation). I’m told the cheer of the year went up in Mission Control.” — Lovell in “Apollo Expeditions to the Moon” (NASA SP-350, 1975)

“Flight Director Gerald Griffin, a man not easily shaken, recalled: “Some years later I went back to the log and looked up that mission. My writing was almost illegible, I was so damned nervous. And I remember the exhilaration running through me: My God, that’s the last hurdle – if we can do that, I know we can make it.”

When Haise saw it again 39 years later, he instantly recognized it as the Lunar Module eye guard from the signature threaded ring. The placard is also signed by Apollo 13 Commander Jim Lovell and Apollo 13 Lunar Module Pilot Fred Haise, writing: “AOT Eye Guard From LM-7 Aquarius — Removed Prior to Jettison.” Haise removed and retained this artifact from the Lunar Module, contrary to protocol, prior to its final jettison. If he had not, it would have burned up in the Earth’s atmosphere with the rest of the spacecraft.

Here is Lovell’s description of the unusual use of this sighting tool, in the NASA Documentary released on this 50th Anniversary: “When they read up the [orientation] procedure to us, I just couldn’t believe it… I never thought in all the world that I’d have to use something way out as this. This last maneuver was going to be unique because we did not have the platform powered up, so we did not have a normal method of determining the attitude of the spacecraft in order to perform the burn. The angle of entry into the atmosphere is a very small angle, only about 2 degrees, and so it has to be controlled very closely, and that is what the main tracking is for.”

Reunited with the artifact after having given it to the Apollo 13 Backup Commander John Young, and obtained directly from the personal collection of John Young. The placard reads:
“This Optical Eyepiece Was Flown On Apollo 13, And Is Presented To: JOHN YOUNG In Recognition For His Far-Seeing Contribution To Our Flight. This Eyepiece Is Still Good For Seeing The Future Of The Space Program!”