Mar 31, 2007 - Sale 2109

Sale 2109 - Lot 133

Price Realized: $ 8,400
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 4,000 - $ 5,000
FLOWN Apollo 13 LM Contingency Checklist. A single sheet approximately 5.5x8 inches, being page 26 and 27 from the checklist with diagrams of the circuit breakers on panel numbers 11 and 16. NASA/MSC, 1970
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Additional Details

During the emergency situation of the Apollo 13 mission, Commander James Lovell used this page to record critical circuit breaker settings for the Lunar Module. After the crew had successfully brought their crippled spacecraft CSM/LM combination around the Moon, Mission Control in Houston noted that the flight path was drifting away from a safe angle for entry into the earth's atmosphere. Too steep an angle would have caused the Command Module to break up and burn upon re-entry. An angle too shallow would have caused the vehicle to bounce off the atmosphere like a flat rock skipping off a lake surface.
To solve this problem, Mission Control set in motion a plan for the crew to perform a Mid-Course Correction (MCC) using the LM descent engine. Certain breaker settings had to be modified to accomplish the engine burn. On page 27, James Lovell recorded "MCC 105+00" which was a note for the course correction to be done at 105 hours into the mission. He then made changes to 14 circuit breaker settings for Panel 16 of the LM for the 30 minute activation sequence. Previously on page 26, Lovell had changed 16 breaker settings to "OPEN" and one to "CLOSED" for Panel 11. He then scratched out the modifications to 6 other breaker settings for this panel. This spacecraft burn was successfully completed and the crew returned safely to earth.
Each side of this card has been inscribed and signed by Fred Haise: "In flight notes by James Lovell. Carried on and used during the flight of Apollo 13. Fred Haise, Apollo 13 LMP." With a Typed Letter Signed by Fred Haise describing additional flight details.