posted 06-09-2020 06:37 AM               

I guess this would have been a very human thing to do being so close to history.

posted 06-09-2020 05:39 PM               

NASA didn't approve of the practice of taking souvenirs, as a 1969 memo written by Jim McDivitt in his capacity as the Apollo spacecraft program manager explained:

...these removals have included stripping of small pieces of the kapton thermal coating and removal of the command module nameplates. These removals have occurred during the recovery and return to North American and during postflight testing.

I would like to point out to all personnel concerned that this unauthorized removal of equipment, no matter how small it may seem, constitutes a violation of our responsibility.

posted 06-09-2020 06:14 PM               

FRIDAY, 25 July 1969

Friday was spent by many men on board Hornet securing mementos of the trip. The ship was scheduled to arrive at Pearl Harbor in the morning, next day, so little time remained for bartering. One item of particular value was kapton foil from Columbia. ETR3 [Electronics Technician (radar), Petty Officer 3rd Class] Dennis R. Moran recalled that sailors would double-team the USMC guards posted around the CM. While one or more sailors distracted a guard by engaging him in conversations, other sailors would sneak inside the painted security line to strip small sections of kapton foil from the module.

Of course, USMC guards were in the best position to collect such mementos from the CM. Commander Lamb, the executive officer of Hornet, recalled that his orderly happened to be a member of Hornet's MARDET [Marine Detachment]. One morning, his orderly presented to Commander Lamb a gift - not only a section of kapton foil from the module, but a small screw from the side crew hatch. The module was constructed of some three million parts. Guards apparently imagined that a minor disassembly of the CM itself, then, would hardly be noticed. And they were correct. No one from NASA ever called them to account for the missing parts.

posted 06-21-2020 02:07 PM               

Another guy I purchased a few large pieces of Apollo 15 kapton from told me how he was at a Honolulu bar drinking when he met a few of the UDT guys from the recovery team. They took him aboard the carrier, showed him the spacecraft tucked away in the corner with one USMC guard who said nothing and they allowed him to remove the foil. As he left the ship, one of the UDT divers handed him an Apollo 15 Zippo lighter presented to the team and he said, "I don't smoke, it's yours of you want it." It's still unused in the box.

Many people, including those from NASA, NAA and contractors aboard the recovery ships took pieces off of every spacecraft. I've spoken to quite a few people who worked at NAA in Downey and they showed me or sold me many pieces taken from every spacecraft returned for processing.

posted 06-21-2020 04:29 PM               

Hirasaki entered Columbia while still at sea not to remove pyrotechnic devices, but to retrieve the moon rocks. From his NASA oral history:

Anyhow, first things they wanted out was the lunar samples ... Anyhow, having removed the lunar sample turn container from the spacecraft, I brought it in, double vacuum-packed it, put it through the lock, and sent it outside.

In the meantime, I proceeded to go ahead and get the other items out of there, the film canisters and things like that nature.