Unique Apollo Buddy Secondary Life Support System. Part is designated Class III for training, with “Class III” etched into suit connector. This system was designed to go from space suit to space suit in an emergency on the lunar surface, to supply LCG cooling water to two astronauts using one PLSS. The system includes an umbilical cord which measures almost 8.5 feet long, consisting of a blue flow-dividing connector at one end, with an ordinary connector at one end coupled with a receptacle to accept a second PLSS water connector, which leads to two parallel plastic tubes inside. Tubes are surrounded by hand-stitched Beta cloth. Two metal lanyards are attached to the hose by stitched brown webbing to provide strain relief for the umbilical. The entire hose is accompanied by its snap-up Beta cloth thermally insulated stowage bag with lanyard used for storage.
During the first two moon landings, the astronauts never ventured more than a kilometer from the lunar module, and in fact Armstrong and Aldrin didn’t venture more than 60 meters from the lander. Future missions were designed for farther EVA’s particularly with the inclusion of the lunar rover on later missions. First used on Apollo 14, these contingency systems would be stored in several locations during the lunar landing portion of the missions in the LEM, the MET, LRV LMP's top of the back of the seat, and on the PLSS backpack. In case one astronaut’s PLSS went down during an EVA, the second astronaut could hook into his system sharing coolant until they could return to the LM. Flown systems such as this were left on the lunar surface. The system was first issued for the Apollo 14 mission, and despite never having had to be used in an actual emergency, the procedure for donning and activating the system was included on the cuff check lists for Apollo 14, 15, and 17. RR Auction COA.
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