Fantastic Block I Command Module main display panel #16 with switch banks for the "Abort System," "Reaction Control Sys," and "Main Chute Release," used as a mockup or training aid (likely once used in the Egress Trainer), affixed to a 15.5″ x 13.5″ wooden plaque, with a presentation label reading, "'Abort Not—Waste Not,' from NASA-MSC Troops to Paul Kruppenbacher, Capt. USAF, August 26, 1971," signed by members of the Apollo engineering team including Milt Heflin, Bud Carpenter, Larry Bell, Bruce M. Wood, Harry Clancy, Elsie Johnson, P. V. Williams, Gus McCown, Michael F. Collins, Oral R. Smithwick, Michael Ward, John C. Stonesifer, and others. In very good to fine condition, with two cracks to the wooden plaque, and some tears, rippling, and toning to the sheet.
Accompanied by a provenance statement from Kruppenbacher, in part: "Upon ending my four year U.S. Air Force assignment to the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC), Houston, my co-worker gave me a farewell party in the summer of 1971. They presented me with a gift, an Apollo Command Module Main Display panel, #16…Signed on paper, were the signatures of my co-workers from the Flight Operations Directorate, Landing and Recovery Division. However, one signature was not from our organization…it was Jim Foley, my Houston roommate! He knew and partied with so many of our NASA team. It meant something special to me. The panel was representative of my work at NASA since it contained landing and recovery switch operations…My principal job at NASA was to configure the Apollo Water Egress Trainer…I participated in assisting Apollo 7 to 15 primary and backup crews during their training…I believe that this panel was acquired for crew training from flight hardware sources, although it is possible that it was initially built for other mock-up purposes. However, it is truly Apollo Command Module hardware."
Plus three official color glossy 10 x 8 red-numbered NASA photos, including: an interior view of the Boilerplate-1102A Command Module Egress Trainer through the side hatch, with panels similar to this one visible inside (S-70-15963); a view of BP-1102A in the Gulf of Mexico during Apollo recovery test operations, with sea dye deployed and flotation bags inflated (S-69-53579); and the backside of BP-1102A after being painted and clear-coated by the MSC paint shop in a rust color to represent a more realistic post-landing spacecraft.
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