Item: Apollo 11 Command Module Flown Kapton Foil.
Size: 2 mm.
Display: 5 cm x 5mm.
Status: Flown.
Description: Kapton is a polyimide film produced by DuPont in the late 1960s that is stable over a wide temperature range, from −269 to +400 °C (−452 to 752 °F; 4 to 673 K). The chemical name of Kapton K and HN is poly(4,4′-oxydiphenylene-pyromelliimide). It is produced from the condensation of pyromellitic dianhydride and 4,4′-oxydiphenylamine.
The Command Module used Kapton Foil as part of a thermal protection system for a re-entry speed of 24,677 miles per hour or 36,194 feet per second. That translated into heat during re-entry of more than 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
Kapton Foil, colored silver on the front with a gold backing, was added to the exterior of the command module to protect the spacecraft from the extreme environment of deep space. Most of the Kapton Foil burned away during re-entry, but what was left was often peeled off and kept by members of NASA's recovery teams as a memento of the Apollo missions they worked on.
Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia after its recovery from the Ocean.
Credit: NASA.
More information: Apollo11Space - Apollo 11 Kapton Foil
