Kern Switar 18mm f/1:1.0 camera lens intended for use with the Maurer DAC (Data Acquisition Camera), evidently modified by NASA for use in a particular experiment. The lens measures 2.75" long and 1.75" in diameter, and is hand-annotated with NASA part numbers near the mount: "SEB 33100018-301." This lens has the standard 16mm Data AcquisitionCamera (DAC) lens mount. The lens has had the aperture control ring disabled, and a fixed aperture has been installed. Both the focus and aperture rings do turn, but the aperture ring does not change the diaphragm and it is not certain if the focus ring is operational.
Designed and manufactured by J. A. Maurer of Long Island, New York, the Maurer Data Acquisition Camera was used to obtain sequential photographic data during the manned flights of Project Apollo and Skylab. This type of lens is described in the "Handbook of Pilot Operational Equipment for Manned Space Flight, Report No. CD42-A/SL-997," published by NASA in June 1973: "18 mm. Lens (SEB33100018): The 18 mm. Lens has the largest relative aperture of the DAC system and is the widest field-of-view lens that can be used with the Right Angle Mirror…The lens is especially useful for vehicle-to-vehicle docking and detailed interior photography." It lists the "-301" suffix as a "significant configuration," describing its purpose as "Apollo and Skylab flight unit; standard mirror interface." This variant would typically have the right-angle mirror mount and focus and aperture tabs, all of which are absent on this example. The optics do not appear to have been modified.
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