Neil Armstrong's Widow Discovers Moon Camera In Bag

hypnosec writes Over 40 years after Neil Armstrong's Apollo 11 trip, a hidden bag full of artifacts has been discovered by his widow Carol Armstrong. Carol found the bag after Neil's death shortly after he underwent heart surgery. The bag contained a total of 20 items including the priceless 16mm movie camera that recorded Apollo 11's descent to the surface of the moon, an optical alignment sight used by the crew for docking maneuvers, and a waist tether among other things. The bag and its contents are now on loan to the National Air and Space Museum for preservation, research and eventual public display.

Comments

On loan???

[Anonymous Coward]

I hope not from his widow/estate. Wouldn't all this shit have to have been stolen?

Re:On loan???

[fremsley471]

Well there were questions raised, but it's all settled now- they're her mementoes now.

http://spacenews.com/obama-sig...

I agree with the Bill, but am re-reading Michael Collins' excellent autobiography and he's not completely effusive about many of his colleagues - he also shares the bewilderment over the David Scott Apollo 15 mailbag. [talking about heroes with leaden feet, the book's autobiography is by Charles Lindbergh].

Re:On loan???

[number6x]

The astronauts were paid their regular military salaries, plus hazardous duty pay. It was a pittance. In order to compensate these men more fully The United States Congress authorized, through legislation, that astronauts could keep spent NASA equipment as mementos. It was always one of the 'unwritten rules' at NASA during that era. It wasn't until years later that it was questioned by some bureaucrat and the legislation was needed to end and questions

So no theft or questionable loans were involved.

Re: On loan???

[Anonymous Coward]

Statute of limitations only applies to the crime of theft. Courts have long ruled (and upheld the last time an astronaut tried to sell a camera in 2011) that there is no limitation to the Feds exerting their "rights", such as property ownership. However in this specific case, congress passed a law in 2012 specifically assigning ownership of mementos, including hardware that would have been discarded or destroyed during the mission, such as this camera, to the astronauts that hold them.

Re:On loan???

[Rhaban]

He was on the moon, and he peed into a waste management unit, but he did not pee *on* the moon (not even to write his own name).

He peed. While on the moon. He peed. On the moon. He peed on the moon. Just not... "on" the moon.

Re:Did he take any pieces of the moon with him?

[ClickOnThis]

You're trolling, but here I am responding. Sigh.

The 16 mm movie camera was no doubt physically attached to the lunar module cabin, and the flight plan simply didn't call for detaching and abandoning it. Consider that it also probably was used to record other things, such as descent, ascent, rendezvous, etc.

The Apollo 11 astronauts did leave behind a small fortune in camera equipment: the Hasselblad cameras used to record the moonwalks. They only brought back the exposed film. This was done to lighten the lunar module, and to compensate for the moon rocks they did in fact bring back.