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Lot 206

GROUND ELAPSED TIMER—APOLLO 13.

5 May 2011, 13:00 EDT
New York

Sold for US$5,124 inc. premium

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GROUND ELAPSED TIMER—APOLLO 13.

Metal housing, 19 x 5 inches, with timer display calibrated in hours and tenths, red "Start" button, and large lettering reading "G.E.T." The fascia with metal grab-handles at both ends, the reverse with projecting mechanisms of timer and button. Markings on the mechanisms read "A.W. Haydon Company," with part numbers "3209" and "K23209," and serial numbers "2582" and "2564." Several General Dynamics Convair calibration decals.

Signed and inscribed by JAMES LOVELL on the fascia: "Folks say these hours were hell on Earth. Believe me, they weren't much fun in Space either. James Lovell, Apollo 13."
Believed to be one of the ground elapsed timers, or GETs, used during Apollo 13, this one from the telemetry area of NASA's Command Communication and Telemetry System at Mission Control in Houston. The display shows a time of 142 hours and nine tenths of an hour. The official duration of the mission was 142 hours, 54 minutes, and 41 seconds.
The latest inspection mark shows that the device was last calibrated on May 22, 1969, and that the next calibration was due on the same date in 1970. The crew of Apollo 13 returned to Earth after a harrowing flight on April 17, 1970, after which this GET was presumably decommissioned.

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