Echoes-From-Apollo

Apollo 16 Apollo 15 Astronaut Al Wordens' Vintage 'CSM Rescue Book (Change A)' Dated March 10, 1972

 

Here is Apollo 15 Astronaut Al Worden's vintage 'Apollo 16 CSM Rescue Book (Change A) for All Launch Dates' dated March 10, 1972.

This item measures 8.5" x 10.5", is approximately 25 double sided card stock pages, and is divided into sections separated by tabbed dividers. It was used by Worden while he was training as the Apollo 16 back-up Command Module Pilot (CMP) for that mission. Apollo 16 launched on April 16, 1972.
This is an exceedingly rare checklist. 

As shown below, it has been personally inscribed by Worden as follows: 'This Rescue Book was used by me as the back-up command module pilot. It has been in my personal collection. Al Worden Apollo 15 CMP.' Worden's name is on a sticker affixed to the cover as seen below. Worden also inscribed it on the approval page as seen below as follows: 'Al Worden Apollo 16 BUCMP'.

 In the below picture, Worden is holding this item. 

 

 

 

 

 

Worden should be smiling,
considering what I paid for this item!!!

 

 

 

LIST OF EFFECTIVE PAGES
BASIC 12/14/71
CHANGE A 3/10/72

 

 

The 'Apollo 16 CSM Rescue Book (Change A) for All Launch Dates' provided the crew with a quick reference to the actions needed to respond to a variety of emergencies.  Its' tabbed sections are divided into the following: 

1.  Abort Points/Rescue Cases 2. One Rev Rendezvous 3. Two Rev Rendezvous   4. Rescue Two Rendezvous 5. CSM Dwell Rendezvous 6. Manual Insertion Rendezvous 7. TPF Activities 8. SPS Pre-Braking Burn Procedures 9. IMU Failure Rendezvous 

 

 

 Like similar checklists in aircraft, the Apollo Checklists were intended as memory joggers, and were normally used by one crew member reading out the action, and the other crew members carrying out the requisite task.

Below are pages 1 through 4 from the book.

LM ABORT POINTS
 CSM RESCUE CASES

 

ONE REV
ORBITAL MOTION PLOT

 

 

ONE REV
RELATIVE MOTION PLOT

 

ONE REV
TIMELINE

 

I also have an Apollo 17 'CSM Rescue Book', dated 12/4/72 obtained from Farthest Reaches belonging to Apollo 17 Flight Director Neil Hutchinson which he kept on his console in the Missions Operation Control Room and used during that mission. There is a separate entry for that item on this blog. 

Paid a  pretty penny for these items but well worth the price!!

Flight Director Neil Hutchinson's Vintage Apollo 17 CSM Rescue Book

 

This is my vintage Apollo 17 'CSM Rescue Book' dated 12/4/72 belonging to Apollo 17 Flight Director Neil Hutchinson which he kept on his console in the Mission Operations Control Room and used during that mission. 

 

COVER

There are pencil notations on the cover probably made by Hutchinson with 'BASIC' crossed through and '11/10/72' penciled in, and 'verified 12/4/72' notated just underneath 'All Launch Dates'. Apollo 17 launched 12/7/72.

 

Dated December 6, 1972, this picture shows the Mission Operations Control Room (MOCR), Flight Director's console, the day before the Apollo 17 launch. From left, Apollo 17 Flight Director Neil Hutchinson, Eugene Kranz, Gerald Griffin. The MOCR was located in Building 30, Mission Control Center (MCC), Houston TX.

This Apollo 17 CSM Rescue Book was actually kept for use on the MCC console by Flight Director Hutchinson, designated 'Silver Flight', who inscribes the first page accordingly as can be seen in the below picture. Fortunately these rescue contingencies didn't need to be utilized as this mission went smoothly.

 

 

There are a number of interestingly notated pages in this item including the one shown one below with a diagram most likely drawn by Hutchinson himself!

 

And the below hand written page which appears to have been handwritten on a sheet of lined paper and was probably not part of the original item but added by Hutchinson as an aid to the overall purpose of the item at the time. Amazing stuff!!

 

I also have an Apollo 16 'CSM Rescue Book (Change A)', dated March 10, 1972, obtained from Apollo 15 Astronaut Al Worden through Farthest Reaches. There is a separate entry for that item on this blog. 

Paid a pretty penny for these items but well worth the price!!!

Three Russian 'Cosmonautics Day' Mail Covers Signed By A Total Of 38 Cosmonauts

 

Here are my three Russian 'Cosmonautics Day' Mail Covers, two postmarked 1971 and one postmarked 1977, signed by a total of 38 Cosmonauts.
 

I obtained the first cover on March 11, 2017 in an online auction for a very reasonable price. 

 

As can be seen in the above photo, it is postmarked 1971 and signed by the following 9 Cosmonauts: 

Pavel Popovich

Vostok 4, Soyuz 14-part of original Cosmonaut group selected in 1960-Commander of Vostok 4 in 1962 which, along with Andriyan Nikolayev on Vostok 3, became the first time that multiple manned spacecraft were in earth orbit at the same time.

Andriyan Nikolayev

Vostok 3, Soyuz 9-married to Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space, 1963-1982-Commander of Vostok 3 in 1962 which, along with Pavel Popovich on Vostok 4, became the first time that multiple manned spacecraft were in earth orbit at the same time.. 

Vladimir Shatalov

Soyuz 4, 8, and 10.

Nikolay Rukavishnikov

Soyuz 10, 16, and 23.

Georgy Beregovoy

Soyuz 3.

Viktor Gorbatko

Soyuz 7, 24, and 37.

Alexei Leonov

Voskhod 2, Soyuz 19, ASTP-became first human to 'walk' in space during Voskhod 2.

Vitaly Sevastyanov

Soyuz 9 and 18.

Valentin Lebedev

Soyuz T-5, T-7, and 13.

 

BACK

On March 13, 2017, I received an email response from a Russian friend after a request for help identifying the signatures on this item. My friend provided me with the below photo of my item, on which he identified all 9 Cosmonaut signatures!  

 

 

I obtained the second cover on September 14, 2019 in an online auction for almost three times what I paid for the first one!

 

As can be seen in the above photo it is postmarked 1971 and is seen as I received it. You can plainly see that someone had used a pencil to print each Cosmonauts' name next to their corresponding signatures.

It is signed by the following 13 Cosmonauts: 

Anatoly Filipchenko

Soyuz 7 and 16.

Vasily Lazarev

Soyuz 12 and 18a (aborted launch).

Georgy Shonin

Souz 6-part of original Cosmonaut group selected in 1960.

Viktor Gorbatko

Soyuz 7, 24, and 37.

Vitaly Zholobov

Soyuz 21.

Gennady Sarafanov

Soyuz 15.

Vitaly Sevastyanov

Soyuz 9 and 18.

Georgy Grechko

Soyuz T-14, 17, and 26.

Yevgeny Khrunov

Soyuz 4 and 5.

Yuri Artyukhin

Soyuz 14.

Gherman Titov

Vostok 2-became second human to orbit the earth on August 6, 1961-first to orbit the earth multiple times (17).

Aleksei Gubarev

Soyuz 17 and 28.

Sergei Zhukov

No missions.

BACK
Pencil notation lower right indicates this item was in a 1998 Superior auction with a price of '195'.

This item also came with the below Xeroxed insert in which someone used a red marker to identify each signature.

I obtained the third cover on January 18, 2020 in an online auction for a reasonable price, as with the first above described cover.

 

As can be seen in the above photo, it is postmarked 1977 and signed by the following 16 Cosmonauts: 

Georgy Beregovoy

Soyuz 3.

Viktor Gorbatko

Soyuz 7, 24, and 37.

Alexei Leonov

Voskhod 2, Soyuz 19, ASTP-became first human to 'walk' in space during Voskhod 2.

Vitaly Sevastyanov

Soyuz 9 and 18.

Anatoly Filipchenko

Soyuz 7 and 16.

Yuri Artyukhin

Soyuz 14.

Aleksei Gubarev

Soyuz 17 and 28.

Sergei Zhukov

No missions.

Pyotr Klimuk

Soyuz 13, Soyuz 18, Soyuz 30.

Vladimir Lyakhov

Salyut 6, Soyuz 32, Soyuz 34, Soyuz TM-5, Soyuz TM-6, Mir EP-3, Soyuz T-9.

Valery Rozhdestvensky

Soyuz 22, Soyuz 33.

Valery Bykovsky

Salyut 6, Vostok 5, Soyuz 22, Soyuz 29, Soyuz 31.

Lev Demin (AKA Dyomin)

Soyuz 15.

Vladimir Kovalyonok

Salyut 6, Soyuz 25, Soyuz 29, Soyuz 31, Soyuz T-4. 

BACK
Pencil notation lower right shows what appears to be a price of '275' and a date of '93'.

 

On July 3, 2020, I received an unsolicited email from my Russian friend in which he provided me with the below photo of my item, on which he identified all 16 Cosmonaut signatures!  Being a Russian manned space program enthusiast, he knows his cosmonaut autographs. He did this on his own, which is greatly appreciated.

 

'Cosmonautics Day' was celebrated in the former USSR, and is still currently celebrated in Russia, to commemorate the first manned Earth orbit by Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin on April 12, 1961.

Apollo 7 Astronaut Walt Cunninghams' November 6, 1968 Bob Hope Show Used Scripts

 

Occasionally I'll see an item in an auction that is a little off beat and quite unique. That was the case with this item which I was able to buy at a very reasonable price during an auction of space memorabilia a few months ago. I entered a fairly low bid for the item and was pleasantly surprised when I won. I don't know why there was not more interest in the item when it came up for bid since it is a really cool piece of astronaut owned/used memorabilia. 

These two Scripts were described as being from the personal collection of Apollo 7 Astronaut Walt Cunningham and were used by him for his appearance on the Bob Hope Show/Special November 6, 1968 as part of the Apollo 7 Crews' appearance along with fellow Apollo 7 Astronauts Wally Schirra and Donn Eisele. Actress Barbara Eden also appeared on the show and was part of an Apollo 7 comedy bit as can be seen in the below picture. Cunningham's name is handwritten on the first page of each Script and may be his authentic signature. Each Script also has numerous pages with handwritten notations/edits which apparently were made by Cunningham at the time! Although the below Script 1, Page 1, is annotated as 'Bob Hope Special. Dec. '68', it was used for the November 6, 1968 show. This notation may have been made in error by Cunningham himself. Further down, Script 2, Page 1, is annotated with the correct date the show was aired as follows: 'Bob Hope Special #68/69-3 Air: November 6, 1968'.

 

 

 

SCRIPT 1
PAGE 1 

  

 

SCRIPT 1
 PAGE 6

 

SCRIPT 1
 PAGE 7 

 

 

SCRIPT 2
PAGE 1

 

 

SCRIPT 2
PAGE 8 

 

SCRIPT 2
PAGE 11
 

 Below is a photo of the Apollo 7 Crew with Hope and Eden during the show!

 

 

 I was able to obtain a copy of the full audio portion of the show from Archival Television Audio,
which mirrors the two Scripts exactly as they are notated/edited!!!

 

Since obtaining these Scripts in November 2015, I have been looking for a video of this show. You would not believe how hard it has been to find!  In August 2020, I got a lead that part of the show was included in the documentary 'Apollo: Missions To The Moon', which I bought a copy of. In this film, there is a 47 second clip (21:25 to 22:12) of the show which mirrors parts of pages 4 and 5 of Script 2.  I subsequently emailed Tom Jennings of 1895 Films, the producer of the documentary, and asked him where he obtained the clip. He emailed me back and put me in touch with one of his producers, Chris Morcom. So, I emailed Chris and he told me he obtained the clip from a company called RetroVideo. I went to their website and looked it over. My chances of obtaining a copy of the show did not look good however when I read this on the RetroVideos' inquiry page:  'PLEASE NOTE: RETRO VIDEO DOES NOT SUPPLY FOOTAGE TO COLLECTORS OR FANS. PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS FORM UNLESS YOU ARE WORKING WITH A LEGITIMATE PRODUCTION COMPANY ON A PROJECT INTENDED FOR BROADCAST OR COMMERCIAL DISTRIBUTION. THANK YOU.'  I took a chance and emailed them via their actual email anyway. After all I was on a mission to preserve a piece of manned space program history! 
,
Surprisingly, I received a reply rather quickly from a Bob DiCicco with RetroVideo.
He replied: 'Thank you for your email. Due to personal websites and Youtube we do not send shows or even
segments of anything here in our library to individuals. The material gets out and is impossible to police.
I'm sorry but we can't help you on this.' 

Very nice response email but he is obviously not a space artifact collector!
Sooo... I am again at a dead end in my search for the complete video of the show. 

 

Here are pages 4 and 5 from Script 2:

 

 
Here is a comparison of pages 4 and 5 from Script 2 as compared with the video clip from
the November 6, 1968 Bob Hope Show:

 

 

 

 As a side note, these Scripts came in a manila envelope with some interesting notations believed to have been made by Cunningham, as can be seen in the below photo.

 

 

All in all an interesting piece of manned space program history!