[Apollo 11]

FLOWN Apollo 11 Command Module "TLI" Data Card — The Steps Taken to Complete Translunar Injection, Setting the Apollo 11 Spacecraft on its Trajectory to the Moon

Auction Closed

July 26, 06:15 PM GMT

Estimate

5,000 - 8,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

[APOLLO 11]

FLOWN Command Module "TLI" Data Card, part of the Data Card Kit, SEB32100025-301. [Houston, Texas: NASA, Manned Spacecraft Center, 1969.]

8 1/2 by 2 9/16 inches, printed to recto of heavy card stock. Three Velcro rectangles affixed to verso. Some minor areas of wear to printed side. WITH REALTIME MISSION NOTATIONS IN NEIL ARMSTRONG'S HAND in black felt tip pen, and in BUZZ ALDRIN'S HAND in blue ballpoint pen. This lot will be accompanied by a Typed Letter Signed from BUZZ ALDRIN.

Inscribed "Flown to the Moon on Apollo XI," and SIGNED BY "BUZZ ALDRIN" to recto.

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

THE STEPS TAKEN TO COMPLETE TRANSLUNAR INJECTION, SETTING THE APOLLO 11 SPACECRAFT ON ITS TRAJECTORY TO THE MOON

This data card was attached to the Command Module cockpit instrument panel as a checklist for preparation and operation of the instruments and engines used to complete Translunar Injection (TLI), and contains REALTIME MISSION NOTATIONS BY BOTH MISSION COMMANDER NEIL ARMSTRONG and LUNAR MODULE PILOT BUZZ ALDRIN.

BUZZ ALDRIN'S provenance letter reads, in part: "We attached this TLI data card to the Command Module cockpit instrument panel as a checklist for the preparation and operation of the instruments and engines used to complete Translunar Injection (TLI). The TLI is what set the spacecraft on a trajectory to fly to the Moon. As Mike Collins stated in his book "Carrying the Fire," it was the "umbilical snipping ceremony" from Mother Earth. The Apollo missions represent the only time that humans have flown beyond low Earth orbit and out into deep space. It is worth noting that Mike was the capsule communicator on Apollo 8 (humanity's first spaceflight to orbit the Moon) and he issued the command, "You are go for TLI," to the crew of Apollo 8. Now we were hearing the same command on the first mission to land humans on the Moon.

This data card gave us the instructions, timeline, and results for the five minute and forty-six second burn of the 3rd stage of the Saturn V rocket that propelled us from low Earth orbit to a trajectory toward the Moon. At the end of the TLI engine burn, Neil read the feet per second velocity off the guidance computer and wrote it down on the final line of the card that now stated that Apollo 11 had reached Earth escape velocity. Columbia, Eagle, and our crew were heading for the Moon."

REFERENCES:

NASA. Apollo 11 Stowage List. Mission AS 506 CM 107/LM-5. Houston, Texas: NASA, Manned Spacecraft Center, July 15, 1969, pp. 5 & 85 (as part of the Data Card Kit)

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