Artifact: Apollo Remove Before Flight protective cover
Artifact Category: protective cover
Date of use: between 1969/1972
Manufacturer: Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation
Part Number: LDW 420 P10119-9

Serial Number: LDW 420 10110-1 S/N4

NASA Contract Number: NAS9-1100
Spacecraft/Launch Systems: Lunar Module
Materials: Perspex, Velcro.
Dimensions: 5.1 x 2.5 cm
Weight: 5 gr.
Program: Apollo
Flown Status: unflown

Description: Apollo Lunar Module "Remove Before Flight" Protective Cover, Kennedy Space Center, Ground Support Equipment. This artifact was designed to protect critical Flight Hardware in the Apollo Lunar Module Astronaut Fight Deck. It would have been removed just prior to launch at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA's prime Lunar Module spacecraft contractor, Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, constructed this "Remove Before Flight" tag from clear Perspex material. A patch was affixed to the tag where it would have been attached to an Apollo Lunar Module Spacecraft (possibly Apollo 11 and others). Many of these tags were reused for several LM spacecraft. Cleanliness Level: "C".

This artifact was originally purchased at the Charles H. Bell estate auction in the year 2000 at his Titusville, Florida facility. A copy of the original NASA Manufacturer tag is included.

Artifact: Space Shuttle Ankle Restraint Assy
Artifact Category: restraint
Date of use: between 1981 to early 1990's

Part Number: 10108-10056-01
Dimensions: 30.3 x 22.8 (pad), 29.2 x 15.4 cm (foot restraint)
Weight: foot restraint and pad: 167 gr. Foot restraint 122 gr. Pad: 45 gr.
Program: Space Shuttle
Flown Status: unknown.

Description: Space Shuttle Ankle Restraint Assy. NASA part #10108-10056-01 indicating Forward, were first used on STS-1. Based on photo, they appear to have been duck taped in place, although there is possibly adhesive residue of some type on the back. Unknown if flown. Originally obtained as NASA surplus.

Crew member slips his feet into middeck port side intravehicular activity (IVA) foot restraints behind open stowage locker drawer aboard Space Shuttle Columbia during its STS-5 mission. Credit: NASA.

View of forward (FWD) flight deck (FD) floor showing foot restraints of Space Shuttle Discovery during the STS-53 mission. Credit: NASA.

Artifact: Apollo Lunar Module Remove before flight switch cover
Date of use: between 1969 to 1972
Manufacturer: Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation

Part number: LDW 420 M80029-1 / LDW 420-80026-1

NASA Contract Number: NAS9-1100

Markings: 1459 on the plastic plug, and 1610 on metal clip
Dimensions: 5 x 4.2 cm (plastic plug), aproximatly 60 cm (wire), 3 x 0.9 cm (metal clip).
Weight: 20 grs.
Program: Apollo.
Flown Status: unflown.

Description: this is a plastic switch cover for the Apollo Lunar Module. Comes from Charlie Bell's collection of space artifacts.

This cover consists of two pieces of thick, patterned plastic held together with a retaining clip and a metal cable from which a Grumman / KSC quality control tag would hang. The only thing that remains from the quality control tag are a couple of eyelets attached to a thin metal wire.

Protective cover as installed in the Apollo 12 LM prior to flight. The photo shows the Panel 5 area below the Commander's window.Credit: Grumman.

Another view of the same area of Apollo 12 Lunar Module, before flight, this time with no protective covers. Source: Apollo Lunar Surface Journal.

I have another remove before flight cover, which according to documentation, was removed from the Apollo 15 LM. See here.

Artifact: Space Shuttle Main Engine nozzle cooling channels section.
Manufacturer: Rocketdyne.
Dimensions: 7 x 3.2 x 0.6 cm.
Weight: 20 gr.
Program: Space Shuttle
Flown Status: Unflown.

Description:

Section of cooling channels for the Space Shuttle Main Engine nozzle used for testing.

The nozzle is manufactured from 1,080 individual A-286 Stainless Steel coolant tubes. These tubes are thinwalled and roughly 1/4" (0.63 cm) in diameter brazed together and to the structural jacket.

The fuel is supplied to the nozzle from the high-pressure fuel turbopump at 6,000 psi. It enters the nozzle from the diffuser and is then routed through the downcomer lines into the aft manifold. The fuel is routed upwards in a single pass through the nozzle tubes to cool the inner wall of the nozzle increasing in temperature by 400°F (204°C) in ahout two milliseconds. The hydrogen collects in the forward manifold then onto the mixer bowl to combine with the bypass flow from the coolant control valve.

Space Shuttle Main Engine. The cooling tubes are visible on the interior wall of the nozzle. Credit: National Air and Space Museum - Smithsonian Institution.

Liquid Hydrogen at -423 °F (-252° C) was used during chill-down and was the propellant for the Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSME) on the Shuttle Orbiter.

The Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25, also known as the SSME, is a liquid-fuel cryogenic rocket engine that was used on NASA's Space Shuttle and is currently used on the Space Launch System (SLS).

Artifact: Yuri Malenchenko's flown Sokol KV-2 spacesuit glove
Date of use: July 1, 1994 - November 4, 1994.
Manufacturer: Zvezda.
Dimensions: 11 cm wide (ring) and 25.5 cm total length.
Weight: 286 gr.

Serial number: ГП-7А-11Б-0270415 / ЛEБE 0480130 (ring).

Program: Soyuz.
Flown Status: flown.

Description:
Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko wore this left glove as part of his rescue suit during the launch of Soyuz TM-19 on July 1, 1994 enroute to the Mir Space station as a member of the Mir 16 Mission (July 1, 1994 - November 4, 1994).

Identification tags sewn into the wrist sections bear his initials, МЮИ (Маленченко Юрий Иванович/Malenchenko Yuri Ivanovich), with parts numbers above, "ГП-7А-11Б-0270415". Serial numbers "ЛEБE 0480130" etched into the insides of the blue anodized wrist coupling. The glove is comprised of white nylon canvas atop a custom-molded rubber hand that is reinforced with leather in the palm. Between the leather and rubber are metal reinforcement bars that prevent the glove from distending while under pressure. In fine condition, with general wear from use.

Soyuz TM-19:
Soyuz TM-19 was the first mission in 17 years to have a rookie crew without any spaceflight experience. The crew's main objective was to conduct various experiments, including medical studies on the effects of long-term weightlessness, materials science, Earth observation, astrophysics, and biotechnology.

The mission encountered challenges, with the Progress M-24 freighter experiencing difficulties during its automatic docking attempt with the Mir space station. However, cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko demonstrated impressive remote piloting skills and successfully docked the Progress M-24 manually.

During the mission, two spacewalks were performed by cosmonauts Yuri Malenchenko and Talgat Musabayev. They inspected and repaired the docking port struck by the Progress M-24 and conducted other assembly and maintenance work outside the space station.

Despite the challenges, the mission concluded successfully with the crew's safe return to Earth.

Malenchenko flew on ten missions: Soyuz TM-19 (Mir EO-16) STS-106, Soyuz TMA-2 (Expedition 7), Soyuz TMA-11 (Expedition 16), Soyuz TMA-05M (Expedition 32/33), and Soyuz TMA-19M (Expedition 46/47). He became the first person to marry in space, on 10 August 2003, when he married Ekaterina Dmitrieva, who was in Texas, while he was 240 miles (390 km) over New Zealand, on the International Space Station.

More information:

Space Facts - Mir 16 Mission

Artifact: Slide rule used by engineer Gary Allgire during the Apollo Program.
Dimensions: 5.2 (5.9 cursor) x 30.8 cm (slide rule), 33 x 8 cm (case).
Weight: 135 gr (slide rule), 188 gr (case).

Description:
Pickett & Eckel Model N4-ES slide rule with a copyright date of 1959. It was used by NASA structural engineer Gary Allgire during the Apollo Program.

Gary Allgire was born in St. Louis, Missouri. After graduating from university he was invited by NASA to join the John F. Kennedy Space Center, where he worked for a total of 33 years for the Apollo Program, the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project and the Space Shuttle Program.

Above: Jeff Hedges (NASA Operations), Gary Allgire, and Mike Wideman (Rockwell International) near the escape tower of Apollo 17 at the launch pad. Credit: Gary Allgire/American Space Museum (YouTube).

More information:

Gary Allgire interview at the American Space Museum in 2022

Slide rule: C and D scales

Slide rule: Proportion, percentage, squares and square roots

Item: Apollo 13 Lunar Module Aquarius flown stowage assembly netting and piece of beta cloth
Size: stowage assembly netting (4 x 3 x 3.5 cm aprox.), beta cloth (3 x 2.3 x 2.4 cm). Container size: 4.5 cm, each.

Description:

This segments of netting and Beta cloth material were part of Lunar Module Aquarius and went around the Moon on the flight of Apollo 13 during April 11 to 17, 1970. The segments were cut from an Interim Stowage Assembly that was removed from Aquarius prior to LM jettison just before the reentry into Earth's atmosphere.

Aft stowage assembly netting of Apollo 16. The piece of beta cloth and netting from Apollo 13 in my collection comes from this area of the Lunar Module. Credit: NASA/Apollo Lunar Surface Journal

After the return to Earth, James Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise presented segments of this netting material as a thank-you to key support personel. Fred Haise still had some of this material that he later offered as a means of raising funds to support the Infinity Science Center.

Obtained through The Space Collective.

Artifact: Gemini 5 flown heatshield presentation
Date of use: 21. Aug. 1965 - 29. Aug. 1965.
Manufacturer: McDonnell Aircraft Corporation.
Dimensions: 20.2 x 25.2 (fragment: 1.1 x 0.5 cm).

Program: Gemini.
Flown Status: flown.

Description:

Small fragment of Gemini 5's heatshield. Like those of other early human spacecraft, Gemini's heat shield derived from ballistic-missile warhead technology. The dish-shaped shield created a shock wave in the atmosphere that held off most of the heat. The rest dissipated by ablation: charring and evaporation of the shield's surface. Ablative heat shields are not reusable.

Gemini 5 at the Johnson Space Center. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

The Gemini heatshield utilized a paste-like silicone elastomer material as its ablative substance, which hardened upon being poured into a honeycomb structure. This heatshield was specifically engineered to safeguard the delicate spacecraft from the immense heat generated during reentry into the Earth's atmosphere. The process of reentry commenced at a velocity exceeding 27,500 kilometers (17,000 miles) per hour.

Gemini 5:
Gemini 5, launched in 1965 as part of NASA's Project Gemini, marked a significant milestone in American space exploration. This crewed mission was the third in the Gemini series and the eleventh manned spaceflight by the United States (including two X-15 flights surpassing 100 kilometers). Moreover, it was the nineteenth human spaceflight ever conducted.

A remarkable achievement of Gemini 5 was that it set a new world record for mission duration, establishing American dominance in crewed space missions. On August 26, 1965, Command Pilot Gordon Cooper and Pilot Charles "Pete" Conrad Jr. broke the previous record set by the Soviet Union's Vostok 5 in 1963. The American crew held the title for the longest space mission at that time.

Unfortunately, the duration of Gemini V could have been even longer if it were not for the interference of Hurricane Betsy. The approaching storm forced the mission to be cut short, preventing the crew from extending their time in space by another day.

Artifact: Arthur D. Little's cutaway view of multilayer insulation for use in space.
Dimensions: 43.4 x 28 cm.

Description:
This is a folder with insulation material for use in space from Little's personal collection that had been gifted to French space journalist Jacques Tiziou while on a visit to Little's company.

The astronauts' suits are made up of four layers of Dacron interwoven with five layers of Mylar intended to protect against heat. During the Gemini mission, a braided mesh composed of a mixture of Dacron and Teflon prevents the suit from inflating too much and allows the cosmonaut great freedom of movement while keeping everything pressurized during extravehicular activity (EVA).

Arthur D. Little worked on the development of the Laser Ranging Retro-Reflector (LRRR) experiment for the Apollo 11 mission in 1969. The original objective of the LRRR was to obtain precise earth-moon distances.

In addition to working on the LRRR, Arthur D. Little also partnered with NASA in the 1960’s to work on the ‘Heat Flow Experiment’ which measured temperature gradients on lunar surfaces as a function of time and soil thermal conductivity; and helped develop innovations for astronaut protection including durable lubricant and insulation for space suits and anti-meteoroid bumpers on space probes.

Artifact: SpaceX Starship SN24 thermal protection tile fragments
Date of use: April 20, 2023.

Fragment 1

Dimensions: 14 x 12.2 x 3 cm.
Weight: 69 gr.

Fragment 2

Dimensions: 9 x 3.6 x 1.3 cm.

Weight: 7 gr.

Flown Status: flown.

Description:

2 fragments of the thermal protection tiles used during the launch test of SpaceX Starship SN4 on April 20, 2023. They were found on Playa del Sol, also know as Barra del Tordo in Mexico on May 15, 2023.

The shape of the hex tiles used for ther thermal protection system offers no straight path for hot gas to accelerate through the gaps.

Above: Fragments location within the shape of a hex tile.

Hex tiles on Starship in 2021. Credit: Austin Barnard.

Above: Playa del Sol, where the tile fragments where found. Credit: Ronhardrock468.

Artifact: Fairing piece from H-IIB Launch Vehicle No. 3
Date of use: July 21, 2012
Manufacturer: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
Spacecraft/Launch Systems: H-IIB Launch Vehicle
Materials: aluminum.
Dimensions: 4 x 1.6 x 0.7 cm, aprox
Program: H-IIB
Flown Status: flown.

Description: Piece of fairing that from H-IIB rocket that protected the HTV3 cargo transfer vehicle during the launch.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched the H-IIB Launch Vehicle No.3 (H-IIB F3) with the KOUNOTORI3 (HTV3, a cargo transfer vehicle to the International Space Station) onboard at 11:06:18 a.m. on July 21 (Sat.) 2012 (Japan Standard Time, JST) from the Tanegashima Space Center.

The KOUNOTORI is an unmanned cargo transporter to be launched by the H-IIB launch vehicle. It is designed to deliver up to six tons of supplies including food, clothes, and experiment devices to the ISS in orbit at an altitude of about 400 kilometers and return with spent equipment, used clothing, and other waste material.

The KOUNOTORI with waste material is incinerated when it makes a re-entry into the atmosphere. This transport operation involves a rendezvous with and docking to the ISS, in a situation requiring a highly reliable transfer vehicle.

More information

Launch of H-IIB Launch Vehicle No. 3

H-IIB (Wikipedia)

JAXA press release

Information about KOUNOTORI

Artifact: Liberty Bell 7 flown film lucite display
Artifact Category: film, lucite.
Date of use: July 21, 1961.
Manufacturer: Lucite made by Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center.
Dimensions: 21.3 x 4.3 x 7.2 cm.
Weight: 561 gr.
Program: Mercury.
Flown Status: flown.

Part Nr.: 791 of 1000.

Description: This filmstrip from Liberty Bell 7 recovered from the Atlantic Ocean on July 20. 1999, from a depth of 16.043 feet, was removed during an extensive restoration conducted on the spacecraft by the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center In Hutchinson, Kansas. The pilot observation camera, in which the film was housed, dissolved over time and the film fell to the floor of the capsule where it was encased in mud and corroding debris. The 38-year exposure 10 the elements made the film unsalvageable and it could not be returned to the capsule during the restoration. Issued in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the Liberty Beil 7 fight, proceeds derived from making these limited edition artifacts available was used to support the Cosmosphere’s exhibit and education programs.

The main objective of the mission was to evaluate the performance of the Mercury capsule and to test the astronaut's ability to manually control the spacecraft. During the 15-minute suborbital flight, Grissom performed a number of manual maneuvers, including pitch and roll changes, and tested the capsule's manual control system.

However, shortly after splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean, the explosive bolts of the capsule's hatch unexpectedly fired, causing the capsule to flood with water and sink to the bottom of the ocean. Grissom was able to escape and was rescued by a recovery helicopter, but the spacecraft was lost.

After the hatch of Liberty Bell 7 opened prematurely, gallons of seawater entered the spacecraft. A helicopter recovery team attempted to empty the water, as seen in this photo. Seconds after this picture was taken, the Marine helicopter dropped the spacecraft because it was too heavy to continue lifting, and the capsule sank to the ocean floor. Credit: NASA.

The cause of the hatch failure has been debated over the years, with some suggesting that Grissom may have accidentally triggered the hatch release switch, while others believe it was a malfunction of the hatch mechanism itself.

A close-up of the Liberty Bell 7 capsule, recovered from the ocean floor, shows the lettering "United States" still clearly visible on its side. Credit: NASA.

Despite the loss of the spacecraft, the Liberty Bell 7 mission was considered a success in terms of the performance of the Mercury capsule and Grissom's ability to manually control it.

Artifact: Apollo teflon-coated fiberglass lacing tape
Size: 13.8 x 10.4 cm.

Status: unflown

Description: Presentation with a swatch of teflon-coated fiberglass lacing tape material that was used in the Apollo program following the tragic Apollo 1 fire on January 27th, 1967.

Following the tragic Apollo 1 fire on January 27,1967, a series of full-scale flammability tests of the Apollo Command Module (CM) were performed in a CM Boilerplate test chamber to attempt to determine the cause of the fire. These were followed by additional flammability tests in the CM Boilerplate and in a Lunar Module (LM) Boilerplate test chamber to evaluate improved fire-resistant materials to allow the resumption of the Apollo flights. One of the fire-resistant materials tested, and then incorporated into the Apollo CM and LM spacecraft, was teflon-coated fiberglass lacing tape, which was used to tie groups of wires and cables into bundles.

Above: Example of wire bundles held together with the teflon-coated laced tapes inside the Lunar Module during the Apollo 13 mission. Photo: AS13-62-8929. Credit: NASA.

Presentation #68/299 and certified by Paul Hartunian.

Item: Soyuz TMA-3 flown parachute fragments presentation
Dimensions: presentation: 20.3 x 25.4, parachute cord: 1 x 2.3 cm, orange fabric: 0.5 x 2.5 cm, white fabric: 2.9 x 3.5 cm.

Description: Segments of the main landing parachute of Soyut TMA-3, certified by Alexander Poleschuk, former Mir cosmonaut and head of Soyuz recovery operations for RSC Energia.

Soyuz TMA-3 was a Russian spacecraft that was launched on October 18, 2003, as part of the International Space Station (ISS) program. The mission was the 8th expedition to the ISS and the 111th human spaceflight mission in history.

The mission carried three crew members: Russian cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri, American astronaut Michael Foale, and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Pedro Duque from Spain. The mission commander was Alexander Kaleri, who had previously flown on the Soyuz TM-14 and Soyuz TM-30 missions.

The main objective of the Soyuz TMA-3 mission was to transport the crew members to the ISS, where they would spend six months living and working aboard the orbiting laboratory. The crew performed a variety of scientific experiments during their time on the station, including studies on the effects of microgravity on the human body, plant growth in space, and the behavior of fluids in zero gravity.

Soyuz TMA-3 during its descence to earth. Credit: SpaceFacts.de

During the mission, the crew conducted several spacewalks to perform maintenance tasks on the exterior of the ISS. They also received several cargo shipments from Earth, which included supplies, equipment, and scientific instruments.

Soyuz TMA-3 remained docked to the ISS for almost six months before returning to Earth on April 30, 2004.

More information:

Soyuz TMA-3 - SpaceFacts.de