r/apollo

I found 5 vintage Apollo photos a long time ago at a thrift store. I googled them and read that they may be highly sought after. There appears to be red ink bleeding through to the front on a couple that may be numbers printed on the back? One is of Buzz Aldrin. They are nicely framed and I’m scared to try to open them. Anyone know where to take them to get looked at or appraised? They were framed in Birmingham at a frame shop that closed in the 90’s.

“Well, it’s The week before Christmas and all through the LM, not a commander was stirring, not even Cernan. The samples were stowed in their places with care, in hopes that with you, they soon will be there. Up there rose such a scatter, I sprang from my hammock, to see what was the matter. The Sun on the breast of the surface below gave the luster of objects, as if in snow. And what to my wandering eyes should appear, but a miniature Rover and eight tiny reindeer. And a little old driver so lively and quick, I knew in a moment, it must be St. Nick. I heard him exclaim as he – over the hills he did speed. Merry Christmas to all and to all – to you all Godspeed.”

I am familiar with the astronauts using these suitcases to carry their pure oxygen on their way to the launchpads. From my reading it sounds like it is used a bit as "air conditioning" but more importantly to get "rid" of the nitrogen in their blood by only breathing in O2 a few hours before launch. The low pressure 5psi environment, as I understand, would cause the nitrogen to come/bubble out of the blood and result in pain, usually showing up in joints. Mike Collins references this in his book in his Gemini 10 flight where he ended up taking some pain killers for his knee.

However after the Apollo 1 disaster, one of the procedure changes was to use a nitrogen and oxygen mixture to prevent a highly combustible environment.

So my question is, would this N2/O2 launch environment re-add the risk of getting the Bends in your joints once up in space? And if so, why would they continue to use pure O2 briefcases prior to launch when they would then be reintroduced to N2?

Date: October 9, 1968

"A view of the 363-foot high Saturn V launch vehicle that will carry Apollo 8 astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell and William Anders into space. The launch vehicle is being moved from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad A, Complex 39. Apollo 8, scheduled for launch in December, will be the first manned Saturn V flight."

NASA ID: DF-ST-84-05925, 68PC-147

Date: 1965

North American Photo: NAR-D120B - 9155-9C