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Author
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Topic: 381874659646: Apollo 18 (?!) Handbook
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stsmithva
Member Posts: 1933
From: Fairfax, VA, USA
Registered: Feb 2007
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posted 12-12-2016 08:10 PM
   
This auction just ended, but does anyone have any opinions about this Apollo 18 Flight Controllers Operations Handbook, apparently from the library of USS Intrepid? I couldn't find any mention of any NASA publications ever printed for Apollo 18, much less such a detailed handbook. But maybe it was just very rare. |
Hart Sastrowardoyo
Member Posts: 3445
From: Toms River, NJ
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 12-12-2016 09:44 PM
Have you asked the Intrepid? They're on Facebook.Personally, I think 1968 is too early for an Apollo 18 handbook, considering Apollo 8 had just been flown that December. Wouldn't you have the latest and last-possible information in a handbook? |
Andy Anderson
Member Posts: 82
From: Perth, Australia
Registered: Dec 2009
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posted 12-13-2016 06:32 AM
Curiosity has got the better of me as well regarding the two items that were recently sold on eBay with relatively active bidding and described as a Apollo 18 FCOH and a Apollo 18 TLI Checklist from 1968. From the info provided, for the "Apollo 18 FCOH" it looks like someone put a FCOH cover on 4x5 inch pages copied from the News Reference manuals. The "Apollo 18 TLI" checklists looks like it might have been partly derived from the Apollo 8 launch checklist given the dates on the checklist pages. I could not find a corresponding Part No. from the available Apollo 8 Stowage Lists. I thought initially they may have been props for a stage play or a movie but I really have no idea what the story behind these documents is and also was wondering if anybody can shed any light on the origin and original purpose of these documents.  
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David Carey
Member Posts: 782
From:
Registered: Mar 2009
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posted 12-13-2016 10:53 AM
Followed these with some interest but in the end decided they must be some sort of well-done replica/prop/visual used by the museum. Maybe even a pastiche of real training pages (the hand edits looked pretty convincing). Dates and data didn't make much sense for either of the titles however.Rare, yes. Never seen anything quite like them. I just couldn't get to 'genuine' in the sense of mission-intended. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 12-13-2016 10:58 AM
I've reached out to a contact at the Intrepid, who has said he will see what more he can learn of their history. |
Hart Sastrowardoyo
Member Posts: 3445
From: Toms River, NJ
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 12-13-2016 11:41 AM
quote:
Originally posted by stsmithva:
I couldn't find any mention of any NASA publications ever printed for Apollo 18...
The closest one I've seen - and I forget the exact title - was an "owner's manual" type book spanning the last few lunar modules, including LM-13. Not issued by NASA, though, but presumably by Grumman. |
Hart Sastrowardoyo
Member Posts: 3445
From: Toms River, NJ
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 12-13-2016 11:45 AM
quote:
Originally posted by David Carey:
...decided they must be some sort of well-done replica/prop/visual used by the museum.
Rick Sternbach used to sell copies (not screen-used) of manuals used on Ares IV (Star Trek: Voyager, "One Small Step") which had an original art cover but inside were copies of pages from various Apollo manuals. You may be right that these were props — anybody also contact people who made "Apollo 18" movies or TV productions? |
Buel
Member Posts: 649
From: UK
Registered: Mar 2012
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posted 12-13-2016 05:39 PM
I see that this seller recently sold an "Original 1968 NASA Apollo 18 Procedures Launch Landing Emergency Handbook"? |
Buel
Member Posts: 649
From: UK
Registered: Mar 2012
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posted 12-15-2016 02:22 PM
I emailed the seller to ask a few questions. In response to my query of where he got the handbook, he replied: I purchased from an antique dealer in VT who picked them from an estate in upper NY state. They are very cool and I have asked if any more and he will be checking. I do have one similar piece that I offered to an underbidder and if he does not take it, I will list it within next 2 days. Thanks for your interest and inquiry. In response to my query of what the other items is, he replied: Almost the same as eBay item number: 381874661534 with almost identical insides but different cover. This one reads "Apollo 18, Reentry C/L and has U.S.S. Intrepid Cat No.324.0.0.5 and in same condition. I offered it to the under bidder for price of last one but have yet to hear back. Many times they pass thinking they can get it cheaper but there were some other bidders right below him so I think it will do the same or better. |
Buel
Member Posts: 649
From: UK
Registered: Mar 2012
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posted 12-17-2016 05:13 AM
So any more thoughts on what these items are? Movie props, etc? |
1202 Alarm
Member Posts: 436
From: Switzerland & France
Registered: Nov 2003
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posted 12-17-2016 08:24 AM
Artifacts from a parallel universe that I dream of moving in. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 12-17-2016 08:33 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Robert Pearlman:
I've reached out to a contact at the Intrepid...
The person who might remember these won't be available until next week, but what the Intrepid's staff was able to share is that these documents were part of a larger set of library materials released from its collection years ago. That doesn't speak to their authenticity, but only that they weren't improperly removed from the museum. |
Andy Anderson
Member Posts: 82
From: Perth, Australia
Registered: Dec 2009
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posted 12-23-2016 08:06 PM
I do have one similar piece that I offered to an underbidder and if he does not take it, I will list it within next 2 days... This item is now listed on eBay here. |
Andy Anderson
Member Posts: 82
From: Perth, Australia
Registered: Dec 2009
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posted 07-15-2017 08:05 PM
I see that the Apollo 18 TLI "checklist" has resurfaced again and been sold for $2200 at auction with Lunar Legacies.Considering that actual mission training checklists used and annotated by the astronauts have sold for less than this, I am mystified about the desirability of owning this particular document which seems to be based on the Apollo 8 Launch Checklist – unless that fact or its role in some other place other than with NASA makes it unique. To the best of my knowledge based on the missions up to 17, NASA never produced such a thing as a TLI Procedures checklist. |
neo1022
Member Posts: 281
From: Santa Monica, CA
Registered: Jun 2013
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posted 07-15-2017 09:18 PM
I was thinking the same thing. Quite clear that this is not a genuine "Apollo 18" item. A 1968 preparation date for a flight that wasn't scheduled to happen until 1972 or 1973? I don't think so...I was researching this item back when it originally sold on eBay, and noticed that the seller listed another Apollo 18 "Procedures / Reentry" checklist around the same time. In the description he notes, "with same interior pages as the TLI Procedures book I sold." For the original listing, see:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/381891969131 That disclaimer alone—that the content of two different procedures manuals contains the same internal pages— proves without a doubt that these are not genuine... Presumably this is why they were "withdrawn" from the USS Intrepid Research Library Collection (if indeed they were ever a part of it...). That said, once the issues related to this item were brought to Lunar Legacies' attention, Don linked to this thread in the item description. Doesn't seem to have deterred bidders, though. As always, caveat emptor... |
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