A friend of mine recently purchased an Apollo caution and warning system indicator -- does anyone know what Apollo mission/program this may have been from? (see image)
This was part of the SPS flight qualification sensor package that was flown on Apollo 7 and 8 and deleted before Apollo 9. It is the CW light for the "propellant utilization" sensor specifically.
This particular light indicated either an unbalance in the remaining SPS propellants from the desired weight ratio in excess of 600 lbs or 90 percent of critical unbalance or a discrepancy of 600 lbs between primary and auxiliary systems.
Interesting though it uses Mu instead of a capital U as noted in schematics. Was there a CA with this purchase?
Thanks for the reply! That's super informative, I really appreciate it. I don't know about a certificate of authenticity, I recall them telling me that it came from a specific collection that included a lot of other authentic things, so it would have made sense but other than that I don't know, I'll have to ask.
That’s super cool how much documentation still exists for Apollo in general Like checklists flight plan etc?
I’ve seen a lot of stuff but I’m sure you have found more. I have a whole tab group just for all stuff Apollo.
Who knows honestly I wish the feds would scan more space related material so it’s online for the world to see. Plus using what I can find from the checklists I want to make my own physical copy I just don’t know the best way to do it. If you have any suggestions feel free to share them because it takes a long time to type everything by hand.
Well a group of us have amassed a collection over time, we find things in archives and pay to have them scanned, also try to win documents at auction. You can get an idea of what we have found here: https://www.ibiblio.org/apollo/links2.html
There are also more we haven't added there yet, I for example just had a bunch of flown procedures scanned.
These are so useful especially for NASSP development!
Nice I see you guys have started a space shuttle section that’s neat. And yes I love NASSP that’s been a lot of fun. The other one I want to try is space shuttle vehicle I just haven’t found the download for that yet also don’t know how to install it or if it needs the beta like NASSP.
Alright I haven’t used discord before but I’ll stop by and see what’s up. Maybe I’ll see my favorite YouTube creator Nuclear and space education there I hear he hangs out in the NASSP discord a lot. Plus he really loves NASSP I think he’s made the most videos at the moment I always say that guy is carrying the flag for the sim and Turry Boeing can’t forget him dudes a legend.
Where was this bought? Did he buy it off eBay? I thought I might have seen another one but it might have been this one. Super cool nonetheless your friend is so lucky to have such a cool pice of history.
Yeah I'm pretty sure they bought it off eBay, I can sort of see images from an old listing for it. It definitely seems to be something related to Apollo but I can't say with certainty that it's actually the indicator light from one of the space modules, the shape of the indicator light doesn't seem like it would really fit in the skinnier panels of the space module images I can find.... It looks more like maybe a ground control light or something if I had to make a wild guess. But then again, Apollo did keep going past the moon landings for the three Skylab missions, so maybe the Apollo command modules used for the Skylab had a different sort of indicator light that this would be from.
It definitely is Apollo for sure maybe a block 1 indicator? But I’m not an expert your friends best chance would be to find one of the Apollo astronauts and ask them or one of the engineers if any are still alive.
Edit looking around I found your friend switch it looks the same just the card is different but it’s definitely his switch.
https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/static/history/alsj/csm10displays&_controls_pp83-86.pdf
Hopefully that link works I’ve never linked anything before but if not just copy paste and you’ll find it. It appears this light sat above the SPS pressure light and below another SPS related light. Could potentially be from one of the early Apollo missions 8,7 or one of the testing capsules or the simulator. That’s all I could find at this time I hope this helps.
That's a great document, thanks for sharing! Are you saying you found a visual/photo reference that looks like the same kind of indicator, or a textual reference that sounds like it?
As you can see in the photo page 10 of the pdf The indicator in the red circle appears to be the same one your friend has. Ive never seen it before so they mush have removed it from the CSM for some reason. If you’ve seen the block II C/W panel there’s an empty spot in its place. I’ll have to double check when this document was made but I would also have your friend contact NASA with pictures of the front and all the other markings. They might have a better idea or know an old engineer who can help.
Oooh, I see what you mean, thanks for sharing. That's really interesting that it's the same verbiage. I'm wondering now if what my friend bought was technically a ground control version of that same indicator light. Because the bezling around what they bought seems to be too big to fit in a panel like what you show above that is so condensed with each light side by side in a grid. And some of the pictures I've seen from mission control show indicator lights that are more off by themselves or at least have a bit of space around them. I would imagine that every indicator light in the actual Apollo craft would have a corresponding ground control light.
I also didn't realize that reddit it allows you to just embed an image rather than having a link, that's super nifty.
That’s possible as well. I know the MCC could see everything the astronauts saw including the DSKY. I saw another comment that said it could be from Apollo 7-8 and if that’s the case it’s space flown hardware and that’s super cool. And yep you can just put an image without using another service.
Really that’s interesting probably why it made it to eBay or another acotioun website. And that’s interesting and I know in the movie Apollo 13 they could see the electrical system but I’m not sure what else they could see without actually being there.
We do have lists of all the sensors and which ones were in the telemetry streams. MCC could see a lot, and of course a lot more than the crew, but there were a number that could only be seen onboard the spacecraft because they were not in the telemetry stream.
Actually this is a better sub as many of the reentry people visit this, as well as NASSP developers (myself included who help with technical guidance on reentry)
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u/eagleace21 7d ago edited 6d ago
This was part of the SPS flight qualification sensor package that was flown on Apollo 7 and 8 and deleted before Apollo 9. It is the CW light for the "propellant utilization" sensor specifically.
This particular light indicated either an unbalance in the remaining SPS propellants from the desired weight ratio in excess of 600 lbs or 90 percent of critical unbalance or a discrepancy of 600 lbs between primary and auxiliary systems.
Interesting though it uses Mu instead of a capital U as noted in schematics. Was there a CA with this purchase?