Buzz Aldrin: American Icon
Buzz Aldrin: American Icon
Property from the Buzz Aldrin Family Trust
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"
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."
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