Gene Cernan's complete flown Command Service Module Updates checklist carried aboard Apollo 17, used by the entire crew and heavily annotated by Harrison Schmitt or Ron Evans. Checklist consists of 53 heavy cardstock 6 x 8 pages (including covers) bound by 3 metal rings, titled on the front, "Apollo 17, CSM Updates, Part No. SKB32100123-330, S/N 1001," and boldly certified and signed on the cover by Cernan in blue felt tip, "Flown on Apollo XVII, Gene Cernan." Of the 51 pages within the checklist, there are 25 pages with writing on them, 21 are heavily noted by Schmitt and Evans with PADs, and four otherwise blank pages are certified and signed by Cernan, "Flown, Gene Cernan." Each page is dated "8/7/72," and all but the title page are double-sided. There are six tabs in the checklist: "P30 Maneuver," "P37 Block Data," "Earth Orbit Block Data," "P27 Update," "P24 LDMK Tracking," and lastly, "Flight Plan Update." Cernan has written flown certifications in black felt tip inside the checklist twelve times, each on separate pages (including all tabbed pages except for the first), "Flown, Gene Cernan." Schmitt and Evan's mission notes, in bold black felt tip, are all located on the first 11 pages (each double-sided) under the beginning "P30 Maneuver" tab. These pages list subjects such as: "Set Stars," "R Align," "P Align," "Y Align," "Ullage," and six columns on which Schmitt and Evan's recorded a multitude of numbers. Some of their handwritten notes on these pages read: "1. Burn Docked, 2. PTL reformat, 3. LM 36281," "LM 36281, P - 21, Y - 181, perilun 53.1," "Burn docked, PTC reformat," "1. Burn docked, 2. LOI refsmat," "LM 36312, SING BK 6:51," "1. Burn and k, 2. Assume DOI-I," "1. Burn and k, 2. Assume No Circ., 3. -140.9° Long (Lunar) At TIG," "1. Burn und k, 2. Assume CIRC, 3. -147.62° Lunar Long at Tig," "At TIG - 178.34, Assumes no plane change," "4 Jet, 12 sec, TIG = -156.91°, Assumes Trim & LOPC burn, Assumes liftoff refsmmat." Six of Cernan's twelve handwritten flight certifications, "Flown, Gene Cernan," are located on these first eleven pages within the "P30 Maneuver" tab. Loosely tied to one of the metal rings is Cernan's own artifact identification manila tag labeled in black felt tip, "GC0012," which is directly mentioned in his certification letter as a cataloging tool for his personal collection. In fine condition, with expected signs of use.
Throughout the duration of the mission, large lists of numbers, otherwise known as PADs (Pre-Advisory Data), were read by mission control up to the crew to provide them with the necessary information to accomplish a given maneuver. Houston had decided long ago that, in case of loss of communications, the astronauts should never be without the coordinates to return to Earth manually. P30's importance was to predict the change (or anticipated change) in velocity associated with burning the Command Service Module's main engine. In this case, it appears the calculation is being entered to determine the duration of the Service Propulsion System (SPS) burn (which equates to a change in velocity or 'Delta V') that would be required to insert the spacecraft back on a return trajectory to Earth after Lunar Orbit Insertion. This historic checklist documents the last Trans Earth Insertion (TEI), the engine burn that brought the boys home for the last time. Single flown checklist pages are highly sought-after themselves, rendering an entirely complete astronaut certified checklist an extremely desirable rarity-especially from the Commander of the final Apollo mission. This is one of the last complete checklists of it's kind in private hands.
This item is Pre-Certified by STEVE ZARELLI
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