Flown metal clip collected from the Apollo 7 mission, approximately measuring .25″ in diameter, encased in a rectangular block of Lucite and mounted to a wooden 5 x 7.75 plaque with engraved plate, which reads: "This article flown on Apollo 7 October 11-22, 1968, is presented to F. Peters by Capt. Wally M. Schirra for the crew of Apollo 7." In fine condition.
This plaque was awarded to Fred Peters by astronaut Wally Schirra on behalf of the crew of Apollo 7 for his role as spacecraft Project Engineer. The origin of the clip plaque, according to Peters: ‘The Apollo Command Module...at the completion of manufacturing, enters final assembly, then test and checkout and finally shipment to the Cape for flight. The first step prior to beginning final assembly is to mount the CM in a ‘tumble and clean’ fixture to shake out any loose items that may be present after the long manufacturing process. From then on every item entering the CM is accounted for and vacuuming is continuous. This is done to assure there will be no loose items floating around in the CM when it is in zero gravity. A loose item floating in zero g might migrate into a place where it could cause a problem, like short out an electrical circuit. However, as hard as we try it’s virtually impossible to not have something left. Apollo 7 was a very clean CM but this ‘clip’ was one item we missed. The astronauts collected the loose items, had each one potted, mounted on an award plaque...The plaques were then awarded to people they considered key to Apollo 7’s success. To my knowledge only three such award plaques exist.’
