Buzz Aldrin: American Icon

Buzz Aldrin: American Icon

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 2. FLOWN Gemini XII Softsuit EVA Checklist.

Property from the Buzz Aldrin Family Trust

[Gemini XII]

FLOWN Gemini XII Softsuit EVA Checklist

Auction Closed

July 26, 06:15 PM GMT

Estimate

15,000 - 20,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

[GEMINI XII]


FLOWN Softsuit EVA Checklist. Softsuit EVA. CF 55047-9, S/N 125, Set. [Houston, Texas: NASA, Manned Spacecraft Center, 1966.]


8 by 3 3/4 inches. 23 pp. on 11 leaves of tabbed card stock, first page mounted to inside front cover, last page mounted to inside back cover, original Velcro tabs still affixed to two leaves, with the remainder now adhered to interior Velcro strip. Original printed heavy card stock covers, punched and ring bound at spine and lower right corner of back cover. Strip of Velcro (6 x 1 in.) affixed to front cover at center, strip of Velcro (8 x 1/2 in.) affixed to inside front cover at left edge, strip of Velcro (6 x 1 in.) affixed to back cover at center.  With penciled notations in Aldrin's hand to both covers, as well as a handful of pre-flight annotations in fine-tipped black felt pen in an unknown hand. This lot will be accompanied by a Typed Letter Signed from BUZZ ALDRIN.


Front Cover Inscribed in blue ballpoint pen, "Flown on Gemini XII," and SIGNED BY "BUZZ ALDRIN"

Please note that the 2nd and 6th leaves of this checklist, headed "Send CMDS" and "Umbilical", are not present and were sold at Swann Auctions in March 2006 (Sale 2073, lot 69, for $862) and in April 2005 (Sale 2037, lot 81, for $1,065)

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

THE CHECKLIST USED BY BUZZ ALDRIN TO PREPARE FOR HIS HISTORIC SPACEWALKS ON GEMINI XII


The Velcro found throughout the checklist was used to prevent the loss of the checklist either inside or outside the cabin. The Velcro strips on the inside front cover and on each page tab were used to hold each page in place to prevent them from floating out of sequence in a microgravity environment. Later, after the Apollo 1 fire, Velcro use was reduced due to its flammability in a pure oxygen environment inside the spacecraft.


BUZZ ALDRIN's provenance letter reads, in full: "On November 11, 1966, Jim Lovell and I launched into Earth orbit on a three-and-a-half-day mission which was to be the last mission of the Gemini Program. One of our objectives was to prove that humans could work outside a spacecraft during Extravehicular Activity (EVA), or "spacewalk," while in orbit.


This Gemini XII Softsuit EVA Checklist was used to prepare the cabin for depressurization, as well as for pressurization of the two crewmen's spacesuits. I used this checklist to prepare for each of my spacewalks. I spent a total of five-and-a-half hours outside the spacecraft as I successfully completed the last three spacewalks of the Gemini Program.


This Gemini XII Softsuit EVA Checklist is one of the few objects used in Earth orbit and is also a rare example of an astronaut flight-certified object."


REFERENCES:

Hacker, Barton C., and James M. Grimwood. On the Shoulders of Titans: A History of Project Gemini. NASA Scientific and Technical Information Office, 1977. NASA


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