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Lot #71
Buzz Aldrin's Apollo 11 Flown Flight Plan Page

Eagle docks with Columbia as the Apollo 11 crew prepares to jettison the lunar module and head home—flight-flown page annotated by Michael Collins and signed by Buzz Aldrin

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Description

Eagle docks with Columbia as the Apollo 11 crew prepares to jettison the lunar module and head home—flight-flown page annotated by Michael Collins and signed by Buzz Aldrin

Sought-after flown 10.5 x 8 double-sided page from the final Apollo 11 Flight Plan carried into lunar orbit aboard the Command Module 'Columbia' during the first lunar landing mission, signed and flight-certified on both sides in blue ballpoint, “Carried to the moon on Apollo XI, Buzz Aldrin.” The page also bears a couple in-flight pencil notations by Apollo 11 CMP Michael Collins. The page's front and back, numbered "3-95" and "3-96," document the schedule for a two-hour span following the successful moonwalking mission, after their liftoff from the lunar surface and docking with the Command Module 'Columbia.' The pages describes several cleaning procedures—the astronauts and their gear were still covered in lunar dust—as well as preparations for jettison of the Lunar Module Eagle's Ascent Stage as they readied the spacecraft for its voyage back to Earth. In fine condition.

Accompanied by a detailed letter of provenance signed by Buzz Aldrin, in part: "Enclosed with this letter is a sheet numbered 3-95 and 3-96 from the Apollo 11 Flight Plan, Part No. SKB32100080-350, S/N 1001. It is part of the entire document that was carried to the moon in Command Module Columbia during the first lunar landing mission. This sheet is from the detailed time line section and covers hour 129 to the beginning of hour 131 in the mission.

Page 3-95 has the steps required to secure Lunar Module Eagle’s Ascent Stage just prior to jettison from Command Module Columbia. Mike Collins made the left-handed check mark after the V66 CSM State Vector step was complete plus logged the values: 'P - 5 (degrees), Y - 4 (degrees.' He made the large circle around the retrieval steps at the bottom of the CSM/CMP column and noted that those items were in the 'wrong places.' Neil Armstrong and I were still in the LM and cleaning our space suits and other equipment that were coated with lunar dust. This included cleaning the outsides of the SRC's or Same Return Containers. These were the 'rock boxes' that were vacuum sealed while we were outside on the lunar surface. All these steps were done just after Eagle had docked with Columbia at about 128 hours into the mission…A day earlier, Neil and I became the first humans to land and walk on the Moon’s surface.

Page 3-96 has the remaining steps to complete before we were to jettison the LM Ascent Stage which included putting items no longer needed in Columbia over into Eagle. As instructed by Mission Control, an experiment to test how long Eagle’s guidance system would work without cooling was performed after we closed-out the LM. Neil disabled the cooling system and Mission Control recommended that we perform the jettison as soon as possible in case the guidance system failed earlier than expected…Mike Collins made the large check mark after the hatch integrity check was made. We were ahead of schedule and were able to jettison the LM at 130 hours and 10 minutes into the mission…The flight plan was probably the single most important document related to the success of our mission. It provided a time schedule of crew activities and spacecraft maneuvers to accomplish the first lunar landing."

Auction Info

  • Auction Title: Science and Technology
  • Dates: #650 - Ended December 15, 2022





This item is Pre-Certified by STEVE ZARELLI
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