Apollo 16 Lunar Module COAS – brought back from the moon by Mission Commander John Young

The Apollo 16 COAS arrived today, and I can’t stop thinking about it.

After landing on the moon, this was the optical sighting tool (like an analog heads-up display) that allowed the ascending lunar module to dock with the orbiting CSM... a critical rendezvous with the lifeboat that would take the astronauts back home.

Along with 95 kg of lunar samples, Commander John Young also detached and transferred his optical sight, bringing it back as a souvenir, and keeping it for 37 years.

The rest of the Apollo 16 lunar module ascent stage was left in lunar orbit, to eventually decay and crash into the moon.

Young took his commander’s sight with him, but he also left something behind on the moon – a free Estonia flag – from my homeland, temporarily occupied by the Soviets at the time. A prescient dream…

Here is the description by the Heritage auction house:
Apollo 16 Lunar Module Flown Crewman Optical Alignment Sight (COAS) Directly from the Personal Collection of Mission Commander John Young, Certified and Signed. Used on the Apollo 16 Lunar Module Orion that spent nearly three full days on the moon's surface. From NASA "The COAS provides the Commander with gross range cues and closing rate cues during the docking maneuver. The closing operation, from 150 feet to contact, is an ocular, kinesthetic coordination that requires control with minimal use of fuel and time. The COAS provides the Commander with a fixed line-of-sight attitude reference image, which appears to be the same distance away as the target. The COAS is a collimating instrument. It weighs approximately 1.5 pounds, is 8 inches long, and operates from a 28-volt dc power source. [It] consists of a lamp with an intensity control, a reticle, a barrel-shaped housing and mounting track, and a combiner and power receptacle... The COAS is capped and secured to its mount above the left window (position No. 1). To use the COAS, it is moved from position No. 1 to its mount on the overhead docking window frame (position No. 2) and the panel switch is set from OFF to OVHD. The intensity control is turned clockwise until the reticle appears on the combiner glass; it is adjusted for required brightness."

The Autonetics/ North American Rockwell metal plate attached has the information as follows: "SIGHT - OPTICAL ALIGNMENT - LM/ ME331-0018-0025", Part Number "41070-701-31", Serial Number "06359-0969 BKA", and Contract Number "NAS 9-150".

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Comments

jurvetson says:

Some contextual photos and diagram from Space 1

Posted 2 months ago. ( permalink )

Victor1 says:

Sweet! A tool for docking alignment is a great thing to have.
Posted 2 months ago. ( permalink )

jitze says:

Now that is a toy one can dream about. I think you now need to build an adapter (without damaging the historic integrity of the artefact) so that it can be mounted just like any other EOS lens on your big Canon - it'll make the 100-400mm look like kid's stuff and could be very useful on the next trip out to Black Rock... or at least generate some admiring glances.
Posted 2 months ago. ( permalink )

wallacewainhouse says:

Is it a space periscope ?
Posted 2 months ago. ( permalink )

kyr.chan says:

It looks similar to the HUD onboard the CM which is used to dock with the LEM.

Mission Commander Jim Lovell and Fred Haise (Apollo 13) used the COAS to align their spacecraft with Earth during a manual midcourse burn all timed with a watch.

Their Apollo Guidance Computer had to be shutdown due to an accident.

Great piece of history.
Posted 2 months ago. ( permalink )

skeptical thinker says:

Beautiful. Now, if the inner light is yet operative, would be very
interesting to see a shot of the graduated circle reticle image.
According to instructions that image must be focused at infinite distance.
Posted 2 months ago. ( permalink )

Eppie says:

A fascinating piece of history with a lot of meaning associated with this. An awe inspiring "holy relic" of the early space age.

BTW, Did you ever see the Estonian classic film "Viimne Reliikvia" or "The Last Relic"? It's a really unusual movie in how it was made - performed in multiple languages and therefore dubbed, with only the Estonian parts not dubbed (in the Estonian version... the Latvian and Russian versions were dubbed only when their languages were not spoken)... and significant in terms of what the movie meant to people during Soviet times... the lyrics in the music (by Paul-Eerik Rummo, famous Estonian poet) held that hidden message and meaning of freedom (i.e. communicating on two different levels, so that the film really wasn't about religion, though it reflected some religious history...)

Didn't know that bit about the Estonian flag. Wow!
Posted 2 months ago. ( permalink )

WF&DT says:

Great piece of history you have there... and a fun lesson about the flag left behind. What was the reason behind it?
Posted 2 months ago. ( permalink )

schoschie says:

These posts are great!
Posted 2 months ago. ( permalink )

born1945 says:

Super treasure...
Posted 2 months ago. ( permalink )

sbove says:

Pretty cool. I hear 2001 Space Odyssey hard respiration in space suit while docking in progress...then the mirrored right-angle steams up for a second, Young backs away, blows on it, clears the fog, breaths softer now...(or maybe he was inside his space suit so this was not a problem??)

And forgive me if I missed something, but how the heck did this "arrive" for you to ogle? Another auction victory? Or a gift?
Posted 2 months ago. ( permalink )

jurvetson says:

Yes... an auction victory. (and a LEM hatch and strut... and CM engine... just need a few more items for a full LEM @ home)

WF&DT: national pride methinks. Someone had to stake a claim, why not Estonia. =)

Epp: not yet. My Dad is bringing it over this weekend.

kyr: yes. It is similar to the CM COAS (you can see both in the diagram above). Speaking of the computer, I just got an Apollo guidance computer core memory. The non-volatile magnetic rings in modules like this may have the only intact copy of the Apollo flight code.
Posted 2 months ago. ( permalink )

rwoodworkr says:

Cool!
Posted 2 months ago. ( permalink )

jurvetson says:

Spaceaholic sent me some blueprints and diagrams from the LM perspective:

Reticle pattern, projected onto the 45°-angle combining glass, and aligned with the CM target as seen view through the window:

He also looked up the stowage list for the Lunar Module Orion, and the part number matches, whew! (and a different COAS flew in the Command Module):

Posted 2 months ago. ( permalink )

jerryfi_99 says:

Nice historical artifact! A forerunner of the HUD and also aiming devices for telescopes and rifles, red dot scopes, such as:
www.company7.com/telrad/products/telrad.html
www.opticsplanet.net/red-dot-scopes.html
www.garrettoptical.com/Multiple-Reticle-Red-D ot-Astronomy...
Posted 2 months ago. ( permalink )

jurvetson says:

Thanks!! I also like this diagram of the LM Interior that you sent me:

From the LEM Manual: First Manned Lunar Landing Familiarization Manual, July 15, 1964
Posted 2 months ago. ( permalink )

o0 Lars From Mars 0o says:

Now that Estonia is free, do we need to go bak and get that flag?
Posted 2 months ago. ( permalink )

jurvetson says:

Oh, it's the blue-black-white flag of the free Estonia. The U.S. did not recognize the occupation by the Soviets. So we've laid a claim to the moon - best to keep it there. =)
Posted 2 months ago. ( permalink )

jurvetson says:

Just finished reading Mike Collins book. He flew with John Young on Gemini 10, and wrote:

John Young. Mysterious. The epitome of non-hero, with a country boy's "aw shucks - t'aint nothing" demeanor that masks a delightful wit and a keen engineer's mind.

Posted 4 weeks ago. ( permalink )

jurvetson says:

flickr is so cool. A nice fellow named Mike found this COAS and noticed that it was on a photo he just bought of the Apollo 16 pre-flight checkout of the LM. So here it is in context, before the nicks and scrapes, and signature:

All the red flags say "Remove Before Flight".... whereas the COAS whispers "Remove After Return Flight"
Posted 9 days ago. ( permalink )

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Apollo 16 Lunar Module COAS – brought back from the moon by Mission Commander John Young

Comments

jurvetson says:

Victor1 says:

jitze says:

wallacewainhouse says:

kyr.chan says:

skeptical thinker says:

Eppie says:

WF&DT says:

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born1945 says:

sbove says:

jurvetson says:

rwoodworkr says:

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