Greetings all:
My wife found this and sent the link to me. Has anyone else heard about this campaign? I've not reviewed it personally but I'm willing to bet some of us here would throw a few Dollars (or Pounds, or Euros) for this cause. Perhaps?

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/589813043/restore-historic-mission-control

 

That looks like a great project to back.

I have never done anything on Kickstarter until this week but the ACR Flashlight Project has set the space collector world on fire and was too good to not participate in.



From Kickstarter:

In 1968, the company ACR supplied for NASA a series of flashlights that would be used in the APOLLO missions, from VII to XVII. These lanterns had actually been made by FULTON (manufacturers of famous army flashlights). All the astronauts (including those who did not go into space) were part of the personal team, replacing an earlier model made of light alloy but with a lower fire behavior. This change was possibly caused by the tragedy of the Apollo and although the brass is much heavier (and this was an obsession of the engineers), it is a safe material, which produces no sparks and with almost no corrosion. No more than 2000 of them were made in two batches, being the last one of the year 72. Also they were used in several missions of the space shuttle. Many of them ended up being a memory that accompanied the astronauts once they finished their race.

Considering that flown ACR flashlights rarely come on the market and when they do the prices they command are between 6K-9K a faithful reproduction for collectors is fantastic news.

I'm not sure how Kickstarter works once something is fully funded but if you are a space geek one of theses would be a great addition to your collection to go along with your Fisher Space pen and those little watch calendars of course.

 

My first Kickstarter project arrived yesterday and it should be a nice little accompaniment to the calendars and pencils. If nothing else, it will be great for taking pictures with.

Why pay $20,000+ for a flown one when you can shell out $99 for a replica, a few of which will be used as props in the new Neil Armstrong movie First Man.

 

I backed both of these kickstarters and my flashlight showed up on Tuesday. Between the Fisher space pens, American Optical Sunglasses, this flashlight, and our Speedmasters you can really start to put together a whole kit of items used on Apollo.

 

That flashlight is super cool my family is from Houston my step mom used to work at nasa.

 

Looks like another interesting project from Kickstarter to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11.

Apollo 11 Contingency Lunar Sample Return Bag



From Kickstarter:

Apollo 11 landed the first man on the moon 50 years ago, on July 20th, 1969. NASA decided that in the event that time on the moon would be cut short, they wanted a contingency plan for retrieving lunar samples from the Sea of Tranquility landing site.

For this purpose, the Contingency Lunar Sample Return Bag was created.

The first planned task of being on the moon was to collect about 1 kilogram of material near the lunar lander. This was done in view of the lunar lander camera and would become the first samples collected from the surface of the moon. The samples were placed in the Lunar Sample Bag and stowed in the Lunar Lander.

The mission was a huge success with the crew and lunar samples safely returned to earth. Because of this, a contingency bag was no longer needed for future missions and no more were created.

• Sized at 100% scale: 12”x8.5”
• Made with Authentic Beta Cloth
• Uses an Authentic Nomex Zipper
• Color Matched Polyester Binding
• Stamped Original NASA Lettering
• Made in the USA
• Limited run for the 50th Anniversary

From our research we were able to determine the materials and specifications of the original bag. By using modern sewing techniques and a reputable U.S. manufacturer, we are able to create this reproduction.

After the Apollo 1 fire, all combustible material had to be replaced in the spacecraft with fire resistant materials. Beta cloth was developed for this requirement and is extremely expensive and hard to obtain. Our current work with a certified USA based manufacturer allows us to purchase Beta cloth and have it cut and sewn in a limited, one time production run, making this a very timely and limited opportunity.

If nothing else it will be great to set your Speedmaster on at night.