Complete copy of the “Apollo 13 Flight Director Log,” contained in a 3-inch binder with over 200 pages and supplements, signed on the cover page in black ink or ballpoint by the mission’s four shift flight directors, “Eugene F. Kranz White Flight Apollo 13,” “Glynn S. Lunney, Black Flight, Apollo XIII,” “Milton Windler, Maroon Flight, Apollo 13,” and “Gerry Griffin, Gold Flight, Apollo XIII.”
All four directors, in addition to Charles ‘Chuck’ Dietrich, the NASA controller responsible for the trajectory of the spacecraft, add handwritten notes throughout the manual. Kranz makes a pair, at GET 55+55, the time of the explosion, “My log notes from 4/13/70, Eugene F. Kranz, White Flight,” and at GET 143+39, after the crew lands on the Iwo Jima, “Our Finest Hour! We were Tough and Competent! Eugene F. Kranz, ‘White’ Flight”; on a page marked “RETRO Plan on Board for 60 hr abort,” Dietrich writes: “We could actually do a big burn with the descent engine on the lunar module and it wasn’t much longer to go around the moon so my input was let’s get on a full return trajectory right away. Chuck Dietrich, Apollo 13 Retro”; at GET 68+45, Griffin writes vertically in the left margin: “The beginning of our plan to bring back the crew of Apollo XIII! Gerry Griffin, Gold Flight”; at GET 87+09, Windler writes vertically on the left side: “These are the critical Steps for the manual MCC burn to put the crew on a reduced time trajectory safely back to earth—Milt Windler, Apollo 13, Maroon Flight”; and at GET 90+21, Lunney writes: “My notes for fitting CSM’s square air scrub cartridges in the LM’s round receptacle. Glynn S. Lunney, Apollo 13—Black Flight.”
The log starts at T-11:20, just short of launch, and runs through Ground Elapsed Time 143+39, the crew’s helicopter recovery-landing on the USS Iwo Jima. In addition to the Flight Director’s shifts recordations, additional notes of RETRO and other contributors are included, such as the CSM entry sequence with configurations of Ken Mattingly, Ron Evans, Stuart A. Roosa, and John Young; the Mid-Course Correction 7 Final procedures, Entry Sequences, and a ‘Master Copy’ of the LM Re-Entry Activation Entry procedures. In fine condition. A unique and incredibly detailed copy of the Flight Directors' ‘in the moment’ notes from the most harrowing manned Apollo space flight, and an exceptional multisigned alternative to the original log, which resides at the University of Houston.
