[Apollo 11]

Directly from the Personal Collection of Apollo 11 Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin

FLOWN TO THE MOON AND EXPOSED TO THE VACUUM OF SPACE ON APOLLO 11

This Mylar foil material served as a thermal protection layer on the very outer surface of the Command Module Columbia. It was exposed to the vacuum of space for some 195 hours including almost 60 hours in lunar orbit, and traveled over 500,000 miles. 

BUZZ ALDRIN'S provenance letter reads, in full: “This segment of Kapton foil was removed from the Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia after splashdown by NASA recovery personnel back in July 1969. It was presented to me as a memento from the flight. This segment and my Apollo 11 crew have the following flight history:

We were launched into space using a Saturn V rocket on July 16, 1969 from the Kennedy Space Center. After the third stage of the Saturn V rocket propelled us from an Earth parking orbit to the Moon, we detached Columbia and turned around to dock and extract Lunar Module Eagle. After a 3-day coast to the Moon, we fired Columbia’s Service Propulsion System (SPS) engine to slow our velocity just enough to enter lunar orbit on July 19.

There in lunar orbit, Neil Armstrong and I parted from Mike Collins and the Kapton foil-coated Columbia to begin the descent to the lunar surface. At about 18 minutes after 4 p.m. Eastern Time on July 20, we touched down on the Moon’s surface.

Just a few hours later, and a bit earlier than the planned schedule, Neil and I became the first humans to walk on another celestial body. We stayed outside Eagle for approximately two hours, gathering lunar samples and setting up scientific experiments.

Some 22 hours after landing, Neil and I lifted off the lunar surface to return to Mike Collins in Columbia. Later that same day, we released Eagle's remaining Ascent Stage, and performed the long engine burn with Columbia's Service Propulsion System to begin our journey home.

This Kapton foil experienced the searing heat of re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere on July 24, 1969. Most of the Kapton foil coating burned off during this period, but some parts remained, as displayed on this letter.”

CONDITION REPORT:

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