Apollo 11, the first moon landing mission in July 1969, produced a number of iconic quotes, such as, "The Eagle has landed," and "That's one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind."
Now, thanks to a surprising discovery by the Smithsonian, history can possibly add "Smelly Waste!" to that list.
Curators working at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. uncovered the short but perhaps notable quip, among other unexpected inscriptions, written on the walls inside the Apollo 11 command module, Columbia.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 43576 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 02-11-2016 09:18 AM
Allan Needell, the curator at the National Air and Space Museum with responsibility for the command module, has written a blog about the writings on the wall.
The notes, figures, and a calendar, presumably improvised during the mission, tell us something about what life was like on the way to the Moon and back. The notes can be compared with audio and recorded transcripts of communication between Columbia and Houston to suggest when and by whom they were written, providing new insights into of one of humankind’s greatest adventures.
NeilPearson Member
Posts: 152 From: UK Registered: May 2013
posted 02-11-2016 09:19 AM
How fascinating!
I know that the CMs, especially Columbia, are priceless, and therefore it wouldn't happen, but I often wonder how incredible it would be to bring power back to some of the systems? Is it theoretically possible?
Jurg Bolli Member
Posts: 994 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Nov 2000
posted 02-11-2016 09:48 AM
Stunning. I look forward to the 3D scans.
Hart Sastrowardoyo Member
Posts: 3446 From: Toms River, NJ Registered: Aug 2000
posted 02-11-2016 10:44 AM
Too bad Armstrong isn't around to shed possible light on these writings. Anybody ask Buzz yet? (Or ask the other Apollo astronauts if they wrote anything on the walls of the CM?)
And quite possibly, somebody somewhere is scrutinizing every photo (or almost every photo!) of the inside of the CM, looking for other inscriptions that might have been in plain sight, like the calendar.
randy Member
Posts: 2231 From: West Jordan, Utah USA Registered: Dec 1999
posted 02-11-2016 08:09 PM
I know Mike Collins wrote "Spacecraft 107, alias Columbia, alias Apollo 11. The best ship to come down the line. God bless her. Michael Collins, CMP" down in the lower equipment bay.
moorouge Member
Posts: 2458 From: U.K. Registered: Jul 2009
posted 02-12-2016 12:49 AM
In another place there are photos of a series of numbers written close to the sextant. These are assumed to have been scrawled by Collins during an IMU alignment.
golddog Member
Posts: 210 From: australia Registered: Feb 2008
posted 02-12-2016 02:58 AM
Amazing! Almost 50 years and it's still safely stuck to the wall!!! Ahh, Duct Tape! Is there anything it can't do!!!!!
bwhite1976 Member
Posts: 283 From: Belleville, IL Registered: Jun 2011
posted 02-12-2016 10:19 AM
Ok. Now I would like to see all of the other capsules and what is inscribed inside of them.
SpaceAholic Member
Posts: 4494 From: Sierra Vista, Arizona Registered: Nov 1999
posted 02-12-2016 03:07 PM
quote:Originally posted by Jurg Bolli: Stunning. I look forward to the 3D scans.
Which will be available ...when??
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 43576 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 02-12-2016 03:09 PM
As noted in the article, the first online version is expected for release by July in time for the mission's anniversary. Here is a preview of the data being captured:
robsouth Member
Posts: 769 From: West Midlands, UK Registered: Jun 2005
posted 02-12-2016 06:22 PM
I've always wanted to see a photo of the covered wagon that Cooper drew inside the Gemini 5 spacecraft.
gareth89 Member
Posts: 300 From: Ireland Registered: May 2014
posted 02-12-2016 06:42 PM
quote:Originally posted by robsouth: ...Cooper drew inside the Gemini 5 spacecraft.
Ditto!
schnappsicle Member
Posts: 396 From: Houston, TX, USA Registered: Jan 2012
posted 02-15-2016 06:57 AM
At least some of the writing to the left of the sextant appears to have come from a conversation that took place at 00:22:55:09 GET, shortly after waking up from their first night's sleep during the mission.
Capcom (Bruce McCandles): "Roger. P52 and optics calibration attitude: roll 330.5, pitch 086.3, yaw 000.0."
Approximately 4 minutes later, Collins acknowledges copying the numbers from Mission Control. I'm not sure what a P52 is, but from the transcript, I do know that Collins is getting readings on some stars through the sextant. That may be why he wrote the numbers where he did.
needella New Member
Posts: 4 From: Washington, D.C. Registered: Nov 2015
posted 02-15-2016 08:20 AM
We are working with friends from the Apollo Lunar Surface and Flight Journals to prepare an update associating all of the writing on the walls with related flight transcripts. Stay tuned. We'll link here.
oly Member
Posts: 971 From: Perth, Western Australia Registered: Apr 2015
posted 02-15-2016 08:46 AM
The urine bag stowage locker r5 writing is visible in photo AS11-36-5384 taken to show the stowed probe and drogue around 55:30.
Jonnyed Member
Posts: 408 From: Dumfries, VA, USA Registered: Aug 2014
posted 02-15-2016 08:57 AM
Not that I want to take anything away from the astronauts' wonderful senses of humor and personalities but is there a remote chance that someone on the Navy recovery team or others with access to the capsule post-flight scrawled that?
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 43576 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 02-15-2016 09:29 AM
Other than opening the hatch to let the astronauts out, Columbia's interior was quarantined upon splashdown.
As such, only those sequestered with the crew, namely engineer John Hirasaki (pictured in the article) and Bill Carpentier, a NASA physician, along with a couple of people who were inadvertently exposed to lunar material (e.g. photographer Terry Slezak) had access to the command module for the first couple of weeks.
oly Member
Posts: 971 From: Perth, Western Australia Registered: Apr 2015
posted 02-15-2016 04:16 PM
The photo was taken around 55 hours 30 minutes into the flight, when the probe and drogue were removed and stowed under RH couch.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 43576 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 02-17-2016 08:25 PM
quote:Originally posted by Hart Sastrowardoyo: Anybody ask Buzz yet?
Aldrin today commented on the story on Facebook:
Wasn't me and I don't think it was Neil. Must have been Michael Collins. He is the artistic one in our crew after all.
Space Cadet Carl Member
Posts: 225 From: Lake Orion, Michigan Registered: Feb 2006
posted 02-18-2016 07:38 AM
When you read about the personalities of the Apollo 11 crew, you invariably jump to the conclusion it was Collins. He was the closest of the three to being the romantic or poet that would scribble graffiti on the walls... even if it was navigational numbers.
moorouge Member
Posts: 2458 From: U.K. Registered: Jul 2009
posted 02-18-2016 12:10 PM
It is quite likely that one set of numbers refers to a IMU alignment timed at 96:55 GET when Armstrong and Aldrin were preparing the LM for undocking, so they have to be written by Collins.
p51 Member
Posts: 1658 From: Olympia, WA Registered: Sep 2011
posted 02-18-2016 05:29 PM
We know Aldrin's take on this, but has anyone asked Collins yet?
Yeah, I think it's a given it's Collins, unless they find something that says, "I still think I should have left the LEM first!"
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 43576 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 03-03-2016 02:19 PM
Allan Needell announced today that there has been significant progress interpreting the writing on Columbia's walls.
...most directly, we have been in touch with Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin. We can report that Mike, the Command Module pilot, confirmed that the small calendar was created by him. We also confirmed that wiping the walls was not a part of the planned disinfection process undertaken in the Lunar Receiving Laboratory after the mission.
Beyond that, it has taken old-fashioned, detailed detective work to identify the context for each of the numerical entries. This work has been possible because of how thoroughly the technical aspects of the Apollo 11 mission have been documented in preserved checklists, mission plans, audio transcripts, and post-mission briefings. With all these references, and the unsurpassed knowledge of our team of collaborators, important conclusions can be reached.
NavyPilot Member
Posts: 36 From: Registered: Nov 2015
posted 03-03-2016 06:23 PM
quote:Originally posted by bwhite1976: Now I would like to see all of the other capsules and what is inscribed inside of them.
I would be especially interested in CM Odyssey.
I thought I had a book that included an in-flight photo documenting Swigert's "NO" admonition taped over the CSM/LM 1-FINAL SEP-2 switches. Unfortunately, an all-library search revealed nothing.
My copy of Kelly's "Moon Lander" has been in the possession of an unscrupulous borrower for a few years now, which is the only lead I haven't traced yet.
Does such a photo exist, or was I simply dreaming?
BA002 Member
Posts: 177 From: Utrecht,NL Registered: Feb 2007
posted 03-04-2016 03:13 PM
You can look up all Apollo 13's in-flight photos at the Flickr Project Apollo Archive. Haven't looked for it myself so maybe it does exist and if not, maybe you saw it in the movie "Apollo 13" and later thought you'd seen it in a real life setting? Let us know if you do find it!
YankeeClipper Member
Posts: 622 From: Dublin, Ireland Registered: Mar 2011
posted 02-20-2017 08:50 PM
Michael Collins gave the following account on p. 29 of LIFE Magazine, August 22, 1969:
I prefer people to machinery but there are times when cold, inanimate objects deserve the affection, regard and esteem usually reserved for flesh and blood. July 24 was such a time, and Columbia such a machine. She had taken us across a hostile, black void to an alien planet, then back again, serenely depositing us almost affectionately on the bluest of blue waters. It didn't seem just to leave her scorched carcass unceremoniously, gutted and unattended, without somehow trying to mark her, to set her apart.
That night on the Hornet I clambered back on board and, ballpoint in hand, stood navigation station, staring at the blank expanse of gray bulkhead. I couldn't think of words eloquent enough to describe my emotions but finally I wrote:
"Spacecraft 107, alias Apollo 11, alias Columbia. The best ship to come down the line. God bless her."
This story was retold in "Carrying the Fire" but there it is written that it occurred on the second evening aboard USS Hornet. There are now at least two known written accounts which agree in most respects.
sev8n Member
Posts: 236 From: Dallas TX USA Registered: Jul 2012
posted 02-20-2017 11:17 PM
I thought the crew donned quarantine suits after splashdown and went straight from the recovery helo to the quarantine trailer. How would Collins, or any of the crew, been able to leave the trailer and re-enter Columbia?
Steven Kaplan Member
Posts: 142 From: New Jersey Registered: Jul 2001
posted 02-21-2017 05:26 AM
The Apollo 11 command module Columbia was connected to the Mobile Quarantine Facility via a plastic tunnel erected between the two to facilitate access for sample removal and other activities while keeping the CM interior under quarantine.
posted 02-11-2016 09:00 AM
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