[Apollo 11]

Originally from the personal collection of Dr. George E. Mueller (1918-2015).

PART OF APOLLO 11’S HEATSHIELD PRESENTED TO DR. GEORGE MUELLER, “THE FATHER OF NASA’S MANNED SPACE PROGRAM”

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.  

This heat shield plug is originally from the collection of George E. Mueller, who is credited with creating and leading the Office of Manned Spaceflight at NASA Headquarters, what is now the Human Operations and Exploration Mission Directorate. Mueller was originally sworn in as Deputy Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight on September 1, 1963, but his title quickly changed to Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight after an internal reorganization and he remained in that role until he left NASA in December 1969. He shepherded the agency through the completion of the Apollo program as well as the early development of Skylab and space shuttle projects.