Neil Armstrong's wife finds priceless bag of missing space equipment

The ‘McDivitt purse’ and its contents had been lost for four decades.

Credit: Getty

The bag full of power cables and utility clamps may not have looked very interesting when Carol Armstrong found them stuffed in a closet in her Ohio home.

Yet the items, which had lain hidden for more than four decades, were actually priceless mementos from the most famous space mission of all, during which her husband became the first person to walk on the Moon.

The so-called “McDivitt purse” contained objects carried in the Eagle lunar module during the historic Apollo 11 mission, and included the camera that filmed Neil Armstrong’s descent on to the Moon’s surface on 20 July 1969.

Neil Armstrong’s McDivitt purse, stowed in the lunar module during Apollo 11. 

The white cloth bag was returned to Earth, despite being scheduled to remain on the moon, and was stashed in Armstrong’s closet until his death in 2012.

The objects, which were supposed to be left on the Moon so as to not add extra weight to their capsule on its launch off the lunar surface, will go on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum alongside other artefacts from the mission. Experts said they were “of priceless historical value”.

Mounted in the right-hand window of the lunar module Eagle, this Data Acquisition Camera filmed the first landing on the moon. 

Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin later repositioned it to film their work on the lunar surface.

Allan Needell, curator in the space history department at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, said: “Seeing such things with one’s own eyes helps us to appreciate that these accomplishments are not just books or movies but involve real people and real things, and that they involved an extraordinary amount of detailed engineering and planning”.

Ms Armstrong found the bag after her husband’s death in 2012 and emailed the curators saying it contained “assorted small items that looked like they may have come from a spacecraft”.

Mr Needell said: “For a curator of a collection of space artefacts, it is hard to imagine anything more exciting.”

A smiling Neil Armstrong in the Apollo 11's Lunar Module cabin after the EVA.

Credit: NASA

Among the 18 objects were cables, netting, mirrors and the waist tether Armstrong used.

There was also the 16mm camera which filmed the landing on the moon and the planting of the US flag, alongside a bracket for the camera, a 10mm lens and a lens shade.

They were put in the “purse”, named after Apollo 9 commander Jim McDivitt, who first suggested taking a spare bag to temporarily carry items, as there was no time to return them to storage.

A picture still survives of the bag in Buzz Aldrin’s hands in 1969.

Mr Needell said: “As far as we know, Neil has never discussed the existence of these items and no one else has seen them in the 45 years since he returned from the moon.”

Armstrong had not mentioned the items to his biographer James Hansen.

Two artifacts from the bag, the 16mm Data Acquisition Camera that was mounted in the window of the lunar module Eagle to capture the historic landing and a waist tether that Armstrong used to support his feet while briefly resting on the moon, are currently on display at the museum in a recently opened exhibition.

For more detailed information about the purse and its contents, head over to NASA.

Neil Armstrong Loved Charts

I am, and ever will be, a white-socks, pocket-protector, nerdy engineer, born under the second law of thermodynamics, steeped in steam tables, in love with free-body diagrams, transformed by Laplace and propelled by compressible flow.

Neil Armstrong

Neil Armstrong loved charts. RIP.

 

NASA Astronaut Michael Collins: Apollo 11 Crewmate of Armstrong and Aldrin

America is mourning the first man to walk on the moon. Among those paying tribute to Neil Armstrong is his Apollo 11 crewmate Buzz Aldrin, the second man to tread the lunar surface.

"My friend Neil took the small step but giant leap that changed the world and will forever be remembered as a historic moment in human history," Aldrin said in a statement Saturday.

Many of us are familiar with the exploits of Armstrong and Aldrin. But what of the third astronaut on Apollo 11?

Michael Collins never set foot on the moon. As Armstrong and Aldrin descended to the lunar surface in the Eagle lander, Collins orbited around the moon in the command module of Apollo 11, called Columbia.

For a day he circled, waiting for his comrades to lift off again. As he passed behind the dark side of the moon, his communication with Earth was totally cut off.

In his autobiography "Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journeys," Collins wrote about that isolation with surprising enthusiasm: "I feel this powerfully -- not as fear or loneliness -- but as awareness, anticipation, satisfaction, confidence, almost exultation.

I like the feeling. Outside my window I can see stars -- and that is all. Where I know the moon to be, there is simply a black void, the moon's presence is defined solely by the absence of stars."

After leaving NASA in 1970, Collins became director of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum and later started an aerospace consulting firm.

He has not been one to court media attention. In a rare statement released by NASA in 2009, Collins said he was happy with his role in man's first trip to the moon.

The three astronauts of Apollo 11, he said, came along at exactly the right time to succeed in their careers.

"In my own case at least, it was 10 percent shrewd planning and 90 percent blind luck. Put LUCKY on my tombstone," Collins said.

On learning of Armstrong's death, the quiet Collins told NASA that he will miss Armstrong terribly, agency spokesman Bob Jacobs tweeted. 

Tribute to the late Neil Armstrong

Scottish Screen Archive - Neil Armstrong in LANGHOLM' Scotland

Neil Armstrong swears the oath of allegiance and is granted the freedom of the burgh of Langholm.

Video shows sections of original news footage from Scottish Border Television.

Shots of pipe band in the streets of Langholm. Neil Armstrong and his wife, accompanied by the Provost and civic officials, stand to attention for the American national anthem.

Shots of the party as they are driven through the burgh streets in an open landau carriage.

They arrive at parish church. Shots inside the church as Armstrong swears oath of allegiance and is granted the freedom of the burgh. He signs the Burgess Roll.

Shots of Neil Armstrong as he addresses the congregation. Shots of the party outside the church.

Armstrong signs autographs and walks through the crowds.

NASA Astronaut Neil Armstrong with his fellow USAF Test Pilots

Title: NASA Test Pilots

This picture includes John McKay, Neil Armstrong (2nd from Right), Robert White, Joe Walker

Credit Repository: San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive

Neil Armstrong Tribute - YouTube

Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on a world that was not Earth, has died. Getting his pilot's license before his driver's license probably didn't hurt when it came to becoming one of the world's most famous men - certainly the world's most famous space man.

A remarkable man who was able to accomplish many great things, his legacy is far larger than himself - he became a symbol of our greatest accomplishments and it is very sad to now be in a world without him.

Sad Loss of the most famous US Astronaut in History - Neil Armstrong

"I am, and ever will be, a nerdy engineer," Neil Armstrong once said, trying to downplay any suggestion that he was some sort of modern icon or superman. 

After making history in 1969 as the first person to walk on the moon, he spent much of the rest of his career out of the limelight and leading a quiet, modest life.

But his achievements were never, and will never, be forgotten. 

On hearing the news of Armstrong's death, President Obama said: "He was a hero not just of his time, but of all time."

Let us all celebrate the life of one of history's most acclaimed yet unassuming pioneers.

A footprint left by Neil Armstrong on the surface of the moon on 20 July 1969. 

The Apollo 11 astronauts - Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr - were launched to the moon by a Saturn V rocket on 16 July in Houston, Texas.

A photograph of Neil Armstrong taken by Buzz Aldrin on their way back from the moon.

Neil Armstrong Grants a Rare and Unique Interview

Neil Armstrong is considered a great symbol of human achievement since he was the first man to walk on the moon.

Despite that unique and prestigious honour, Neil Armstrong kept a private life and rarely gave interviews.

Recently, he granted a rare and unique interview to a very unusual group: the Certified Practicing Accountants (CPA) of Australia.

Alex Malley, the chief executive officer of CPA Australia, was the one who conducted the interview and Mr Armstrong disclosed some very interesting information ranging from the time that he was flying fighter planes during the Korean War to the very popular topic of the first landing on the moon.

Prior to that interview, Neil Armstrong's wife, Carol, had disclosed that he used to receive at least 10 interview requests per month but he did not give permission to these requests because he felt that he had already said everything in previous interviews.

In his latest four-part interview, Mr Armstrong recalled some interesting stories about the first expedition to the moon.

He shared his thoughts about the trip, stating that "I should say I thought we had a 90 per cent chance of getting back to Earth on that flight, but only a 50-50 chance of making a successful landing on the first attempt."

He also added that the original landing site was a "very bad location" and he needed to manually control it to have a safe landing.

His exact words were: "It was on the side of a large crater, about 100 or 150 metres in diameter, with very steep slopes covered with very large boulders - not a good place to land at all. It was a very bad location.

So, I took over manually and flew it like a helicopter out to the west, got into a smoother area with not so many rocks, found a level area and was able to get it down there safely before we ran out of fuel."

Mr Armstrong also disclosed his thoughts about the future of NASA as it is likened to a "shuttlecock" between Congress and the Obama administration.

He remarked that "NASA has been one of the most successful public investments in motivating students to do well and achieve all they can achieve.

It's sad that we are turning the program in a direction where it will reduce the amount of motivation and stimulation it provides to young people. And that's a major concern to me."

Neil Armstrong critical of Obama's Space Advisers

Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, said Wednesday that President Barack Obama is "poorly advised" on space matters, renewing criticism of a plan to abandon a project to return US astronauts to the moon.

Appearing before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Armstrong said the Obama plan to end the Constellation program and cut other space efforts appeared to be made without input from NASA or the president's science adviser.

"I have yet to find a person in NASA, the Defense Department, the Air Force, the National Academies, industry, or academia that had any knowledge of the plan prior to its announcement," the Apollo 11 commander told lawmakers.

"A plan that was invisible to so many was likely contrived by a very small group in secret who persuaded the president that this was a unique opportunity to put his stamp on a new and innovative program."

Armstrong, the first to set foot on the lunar surface in his 1969 mission, said the United States "has invested substantially for more than half a century to acquire a position of leadership in space" but that "to maintain a leadership position requires steadfast determination and a continuing investment in the future."

He added, "If the leadership we have acquired through our investment is allowed simply to fade away, other nations will surely step in where we have faltered. I do not believe that this would be in our best interests."

A month ago, Armstrong signed an open letter to Obama criticizing cuts to the space program.

Armstrong and fellow Apollo program commanders James Lovell and Eugene Cernan said in that letter that the plan "destines our nation to become one of second or even third rate stature."

In April, Obama announced plans to send US astronauts into the orbit of Mars within the next three decades but declined to back down on his plan to scrap the bloated and behind-schedule Constellation program.

Apollo 11 Moon Landing: US Flag missing in Space

Astronaut Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr., lunar module pilot of the first lunar landing mission, is beside the U.S. flag during an Apollo 11 moon walk.

The Lunar Module (LM) is on the left, and the footprints of the astronauts are clearly visible in the soil of the moon.

Astronaut Neil A. Armstrong, commander, took this picture of Buzz Aldrin with a 70mm Hasselblad lunar surface camera. Credit: NASA

In the Christian Bible, Moses and the Israelites were forced to wander the desert for 40 years before they enter the promised land. The new promised land is the unlimited frontier of space, and we've already had our 40 years in the post-Apollo desert. It is time for us to reclaim the promise of Apollo, and begin down the path that will take our descendents to the stars.

US Flag lost

Unfortunately, the US flag did not stay in situ. The blast from the Lunar Module take off blew it out of its precarious position and sent it flying across the lunar surface, to land, who knows where. There was no one there to hear it fall!

40 Years After Apollo 11 Moon Landing: Neil Armstrong Talks about his thoughts

Neil Armstrong

Forty years ago men from Earth made history on the moon. On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became Earth's first human emissaries to set foot on the lunar surface while crewmate Michael Collins orbited high above.

In this retrospective for SPACE.com, the reclusive Neil Armstrong - the first human to walk on another world - recalls the heady year at the peak of the Space Race between the U.S. and Soviet Union that led to the first manned moon landing:

From a historic perspective, this is a particularly significant time in the annals of space exploration.

Sputnik, the first artificial earth satellite was launched just over a half century ago marking the beginning of the Space Age in 1957. Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit the Earth four years later.

Forty years ago, the Soviet Union and the United States were locked in an epic battle to be pre-eminent in space and the first to send humans to the moon.

In October of 1968, the Americans launched their first Apollo spacecraft with humans aboard. Later that same month, the Soviets launched Soyuz 3 which rendezvoused with Soyuz 2. In December, the second Apollo crew (Apollo 8) became the first humans escape the Earth's gravity and the first to circle the moon.

In January of 1969, Soyuz 4 launched and was followed by Soyuz 5 the following day. After docking, two crewmen from Soyuz 5 exited their craft and transferred outside to the other craft, Soyuz 4. They returned to Earth in Soyuz 4.

Two months later, Apollo 9 launched with two spacecraft, the normal Apollo Command Module and the new lunar landing craft, the Lunar Module. It was the first checkout flight of the ungainly machine in Earth orbit.

The lunar module flew again in May on Apollo 10, this time to the moon in a full dress rehearsal except for the descent and landing. Those two flights completed the flight test requisites mandatory prior to an attempt to achieve the Apollo goal.

On July 20, Apollo 11's crew piloted their Lunar Module to the first successful landing on the surface of the moon. In October, Soyuz 6, 7, and 8, with seven cosmonauts aboard, flew simultaneously and in November, Apollo 12 made the second of the six successful landings on the moon.

The flights of 40 years ago were among the most exciting in the history of spaceflight. We can expect a number of retrospective articles and television broadcasts to focus on this anniversary year. I look forward to remembering that memorable time.

-- Neil Armstrong

Neil Armstrong: Banjo solo on the Moon

This is the famous picture of Neil Armstrong practicing his banjo solo during a break in the moon landing expedition.

This when he wrote his famous lyrics to "The Eagle has Landed"

Pictures and recordings of the Karaoke singing in the Lunar Module have been retained by NASA and may be released to the public in 2010.