Buzz Aldrin: American Icon

Buzz Aldrin: American Icon

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Property from the Buzz Aldrin Family Trust

[Apollo 11]

LUNAR SURFACE FLOWN Apollo 11 LM G and N Dictionary

Auction Closed

July 26, 06:15 PM GMT

Estimate

80,000 - 120,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

[APOLLO 11]


LUNAR SURFACE FLOWN LM G and N Dictionary. Part No. SKB32100074-361, S/N 1001. [Houston, Texas: NASA, Manned Spacecraft Center, 1969.]


8 by 6 inches. 94 pp. on 48 leaves of card stock, divided into 22 tabbed sections; lacking pages PGNS 1-4; 15-18; 31-34; 43-48; 51-52; Planet Vectors 1/2; Earth Vectors 3/5; Sun Vectors 5 (all sold elsewhere individually at prices ranging from $9,000 to $150,000 per page). Original printed thick card stock covers, punched, bound at spine with two original metal rings. With numerous pre-flight notations throughout in black fine tip pen in an unknown hand. Notation in pencil to front cover in BUZZ ALDRIN'S HAND, "OK EEA." Very minor wear and staining to covers, as expected. This lot will be accompanied by a Typed Letter Signed from BUZZ ALDRIN.


INSIDE FRONT COVER SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY BUZZ ALDRIN IN BLUE BALLPOINT PEN, "FLOWN TO THE LUNAR SURFACE/BUZZ ALDRIN/APOLLO XI."


*This lot will be accompanied by a MIRAImage™ NFT, a unique digital identifier linked to its physical object using novel microscopic 3D scanning technology and advanced mathematical techniques that extract the object's identifying “DNA.” The NFT will be minted by MIRA to the Ethereum blockchain, forever recording these micron-level details, along with the the object's associated metadata and provenance information for future proof of authenticity.

Please note that page PGNS-39/40 is also lacking, and was sold at Bonhams Auctioneers in July 2009 (sale 17402, lot 168, for $33,550)

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

THE NAVIGATIONAL BIBLE FOR THE ENTIRE MISSION—

BEING THE KEY FOR ALL OF THE PROGRAMS USED


This crucial document includes a list of alarm codes such as THE INFAMOUS 1201 AND 1202 EXECUTIVE OVERFLOW ALARMS that triggered during the descent of the Apollo 11 Lunar Module (LM).


The MIT-generated software allowed the computer to continue running priority programs if other programs overloaded the system. Buzz maintained the Rendezvous Radar program for it to continue running while the stated procedures caused the 1201 and 1202 alarms to sound. Steve Bales in mission control knew what the alarms meant and told CAPCOM (the capsule communicator) to have the crew proceed with landing. That page, PGNS-13, is included here and is an historically important page.


On the cover, Buzz has written, "OK EEA," indicating that this is the LM G and N Dictionary that was reviewed and approved by him (Edwin Eugene Aldrin, Jr.) and flew on Apollo 11.


BUZZ ALDRIN'S provenance letter reads, in part:

"This LM G and N Dictionary was the navigation bible for the mission. It provided remedial details on both the Primary Guidance and Navigation System (PGNS) and the Abort Guidance System (AGS), as well as ways to realign the Apollo Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) if the computer lost the state vector (the position and direction of the spacecraft in space). It includes star charts, the star list, and lists of the "verbs" (action instructions to the Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC)) and "nouns" (data that results from the actions of the verbs, such as, "Where are we?"). The dictionary provides a key to all the programs that would be used during the entire mission. The dictionary also gives a review of the AGS program in the Lunar Module (LM) and the Data Entry and Display Assembly (DEDA) unit that I used to operate the AGS system in the event of a failure of the PGNS.


This LM G and N Dictionary from Apollo 11 is one of the few objects used both in lunar orbit and on the Sea of Tranquility. It is a rare example of an astronaut flight-certified object used during the first landing on the Moon."


MISSING PAGES:

Missing pages from the present lot were previously sold individually, at prices ranging from between $9,000-$150,000 per page.


REFERENCES:

NASA. Apollo 11 Stowage List. Mission AS 506 CM 107/LM-5. Houston, Texas: Manned Spacecraft Center, July 15, 1969, page 37 & 58


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