a (BP14)_v_c_o_TPMBK (ca. Aug 1974, unnumbered personal photo)
For the “Apollo Command Module Boilerplate/Mockup” edition of Trivial Pursuit, therefore an insignificant missing link in the history/life of Boilerplate No. 14 (BP-14), aka “HOUSE SPACECRAFT I”. Per the below linked discussions regarding the largely undocumented post-NASA life of the spacecraft, in a March 26, 1971 letter, NASA directed North American Rockwell to dispose of the capsule through “regular property disposal procedures.” The only other subsequent unofficial tracking/documentation I've come across, indirectly (discussions linked below), is that per 1978 NASA documentation, it was sold to a Tuscon-based salvage yard. Further, according to a discussion participant, the sale purportedly also occurring in 1978.
This photograph, obviously a personal photo taken no later than August 1974, would seem to possibly shift the timeline, or at least fill in a long moot gap. The bright sunshine, blue sky, attire (i.e., work uniform) of the gentleman…even his gesture, would seem to support this to be unofficial documentation of its acquisition/arrival at the salvage yard.
I ‘say’ NLT August 1974, bearing in mind that the stamped date of the photograph reflects the date a photo lab processed the film, which may have been exposed earlier. Granted, not too much earlier…all of us that remember those days were cautioned to not leave film in your camera too long.
3.5” x 3.5”.
In comparing the capsule with the below linked image, note the rounded corner of the hatch opening. Possibly an actual hatch 'frame' that had been attached/reattached? Also, a panel underneath the hatch opening seems to have been removed. Finally, the lack of the heat shield, which I believe it did once have.
I do get it, they couldn’t all be saved. It’s still sad, especially with NASA’s woeful & negligent track record of correct/accurate historical documentation & accountability, let alone preservation. And that’s only regarding Apollo.
a (BP14)_v_c_o_TPMBK (ca. Aug 1974, unnumbered personal photo)
For the “Apollo Command Module Boilerplate/Mockup” edition of Trivial Pursuit, therefore an insignificant missing link in the history/life of Boilerplate No. 14 (BP-14), aka “HOUSE SPACECRAFT I”. Per the below linked discussions regarding the largely undocumented post-NASA life of the spacecraft, in a March 26, 1971 letter, NASA directed North American Rockwell to dispose of the capsule through “regular property disposal procedures.” The only other subsequent unofficial tracking/documentation I've come across, indirectly (discussions linked below), is that per 1978 NASA documentation, it was sold to a Tuscon-based salvage yard. Further, according to a discussion participant, the sale purportedly also occurring in 1978.
This photograph, obviously a personal photo taken no later than August 1974, would seem to possibly shift the timeline, or at least fill in a long moot gap. The bright sunshine, blue sky, attire (i.e., work uniform) of the gentleman…even his gesture, would seem to support this to be unofficial documentation of its acquisition/arrival at the salvage yard.
I ‘say’ NLT August 1974, bearing in mind that the stamped date of the photograph reflects the date a photo lab processed the film, which may have been exposed earlier. Granted, not too much earlier…all of us that remember those days were cautioned to not leave film in your camera too long.
3.5” x 3.5”.
In comparing the capsule with the below linked image, note the rounded corner of the hatch opening. Possibly an actual hatch 'frame' that had been attached/reattached? Also, a panel underneath the hatch opening seems to have been removed. Finally, the lack of the heat shield, which I believe it did once have.
I do get it, they couldn’t all be saved. It’s still sad, especially with NASA’s woeful & negligent track record of correct/accurate historical documentation & accountability, let alone preservation. And that’s only regarding Apollo.