Koller - Out of This World Tuesday, 28 June 2022, 4pm

1890 MISSION CONTROL PANEL Houston, United States around 1969/1970 34 x 20 x 8 cm Provenance: Guido Schwartz, Swiss Space Museum. It was less than a year ago that US astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin had become the first humans to set foot on the moon as part of the Apollo 11 mission. Interest had already waned when James Lovell, John Swigert and Fred Haise set off on Apollo 13 for the third moon landing on 11 April 1970. After just under 56 hours of flight, this changed abruptly: an oxygen tank exploded. This original device was installed in Mission Control in Houston in the Operation Control Room in one of the famous consoles and in use during the dramatic Apollo 13 mission. The unit bears the typical NASA sticker reading „Critical Space Item - Handle with extreme Care“. The panel is signed on the top by well-known flight controller Sy Liebergot, who was heavily involved in the Apollo 13 rescue mission. Liebergot sat at the EECOM (Electrical, Environmental and Consumables Manager) console. On Monday evening, 13 April 1970, Liebergot was nearing the end of his shift when he ordered a routine check of Apollo 13‘s oxygen tanks. An explosion completely derailed the flight, causing Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell to make the famous radio call, „Houston, we‘ve had a problem.“ The explosion caused the moon landing to be aborted. From then on, the three astronauts were in great danger. In Mission Control, Liebergot continued to work on the problem after a brief battle with panic until Flight Director Glynn Lunney‘s Black Team came on duty about an hour after the accident. The control centre and engineers throughout the US feverishly and systematically searched for solutions to bring the crew back to earth in one piece. The freezing and tired astronauts had to make delicate course corrections manually. Only shortly before arrival did they transfer to the command module for landing. The service module and the lunar module were jettisoned. After re-entering the Earth‘s atmosphere and three interminable minutes of radio silence, the astronauts reported back. The parachutes opened and the command module splashed down in the Pacific Ocean. After almost 90 long hours, the world could finally breathe again. Sy Liebergot‘s work continued after Apollo 13, working on both the Skylab and Apollo-Soyuz test programmes. He retired from NASA in 1988. Since the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission and the associated restoration of the Apollo Mission Control Room in Houston, it has been extremely difficult to obtain relevant equipment. CHF 5 000 / 8 000 (€ 4 850 / 7 770) | 94 Out of This World | Natural History, Space Exploration & Entertainment Memorabilia