[Apollo 11]

Originally from the Collection of Deke Slayton, Director of Flight Crew Operations, NASA

DEKE SLAYTON'S APOLLO 11 FLOWN HEAT SHIELD PLUG: A CRUCIAL PIECE OF THE MOST FAMOUS SPACECRAFT. 

This plug protected one of the 59 screws attaching the aft heatshield to the command module Columbia, a crucial component to the crew’s survival as they returned to Earth. Returning from their historic trip to the lunar surface, the crew re-entered Earth’s atmosphere in the Command Module oriented aft-first. This meant that the bottom of the spacecraft faced the brunt of friction generated by the descent as it hurtled out of space and towards the sea.    

The Apollo Command Module provided a unique engineering challenge as the first spacecraft designed to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere at lunar-return velocity. The elegant solution engineered by NASA and its contractors involved an ablative heatshield in a brazed steel honeycomb structure. The bolts attaching this structure to the bottom of the spacecraft were then covered by plugs protecting them from the friction of re-entry.  

NASA personnel removed the plugs upon the completion of each mission so that the heatshield could be separated from the spacecraft and inspected. These removed plugs were given to VIPs and NASA personnel as gifts although judging by the auction records, it seems that far fewer Apollo 11 examples were removed and distributed compared to other missions.  

The present lot was given to Deke Slayton, who was integral to the NASA Astronaut Office as the Director of Flight Crew Operations through the Gemini and Apollo programs. One of the original Mercury Seven selected in 1959, Slayton finally flew to space himself in the historic culmination of the space race, the Apollo Soyuz Test Project, in 1975. 

FLOWN Apollo 11 hardware is quite rare at auction. This piece of the Apollo 11 spacecraft Columbia and its unique history offers a compelling look into the consideration afforded by the engineers, astronauts, and personnel that made the Moon landing possible.