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Lot 145
[Apollo 7] THE FOUR-JAWED ANGRY ALLIGATOR: Saturn S-IVB stage during rendezvous over Earth Walter Cunningham, 11-22 October 1968
14 – 28 April 2025, 12:00 CEST
Paris, Avenue HocheSold for €256 inc. premium
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[Apollo 7] THE FOUR-JAWED ANGRY ALLIGATOR: Saturn S-IVB stage during rendezvous over Earth
Walter Cunningham, 11-22 October 1968
Printed 1968.
Vintage chromogenic print on fibre-based Kodak paper [NASA image AS7-3-1531].
With "A Kodak Paper" watermark on the reverse, numbered "NASA AS7-3-1531" in red in the top margin (issued by NASA Manned Spacecraft Centre, Houston, Texas).
20.3 x 25.4 cm. (8 x 10 in.)
Historical context
This photograph captures the delicate beauty and precision of human-engineered spacecraft, moving at incredible speeds high above Earth.
After one and a half orbits, the S-IVB second stage of their Saturn IB rocket separated from the CSM, at which point Commander Walter Schirra began a simulated docking manoeuvre, mimicking the critical process that future Apollo crews would use to extract the Lunar Module for Moon landings.
The Spacecraft Lunar Module Adapter (SLA) on the S-IVB's stage has opened, prompting the crew to compare it to a "four-jawed angry alligator" (see mission transcript). One adapter panel failed to fully open, which could have made a real LM extraction difficult, leading to a possible abort scenario. On future missions the panels would be completely jettisoned.
Printed 1968.
Vintage chromogenic print on fibre-based Kodak paper [NASA image AS7-3-1531].
With "A Kodak Paper" watermark on the reverse, numbered "NASA AS7-3-1531" in red in the top margin (issued by NASA Manned Spacecraft Centre, Houston, Texas).
20.3 x 25.4 cm. (8 x 10 in.)
Historical context
This photograph captures the delicate beauty and precision of human-engineered spacecraft, moving at incredible speeds high above Earth.
After one and a half orbits, the S-IVB second stage of their Saturn IB rocket separated from the CSM, at which point Commander Walter Schirra began a simulated docking manoeuvre, mimicking the critical process that future Apollo crews would use to extract the Lunar Module for Moon landings.
The Spacecraft Lunar Module Adapter (SLA) on the S-IVB's stage has opened, prompting the crew to compare it to a "four-jawed angry alligator" (see mission transcript). One adapter panel failed to fully open, which could have made a real LM extraction difficult, leading to a possible abort scenario. On future missions the panels would be completely jettisoned.
Footnotes
The photograph was taken over the Gulf of California from an altitude of 125 nautical miles.
From the mission transcript after separation from the SIVB stage:
002:57:38 Schirra: It's absolutely beautiful here, and we got a lot of loose particle chaff sitting at about...
002:57:45 Eisele: Look at them! [...]
002:57:49 Cunningham: The SLA panel at the top, left, and bottom are opened at - I would guess to he about a 45-degree angle, and the SLA panel on the right is just opened maybe 30 degrees at the very best.
002:58:16 Stafford (Mission Control): Roger. Looks like you are looking at a four-jawed angry alligator. [referring to the Agena target vehicle he had encountered on his Gemini 9-A mission]
002:58:28 Schirra: It's a bigger one, Tom. [Comm break.]
003:00:00 Public Affairs Officer (Mission Control): Apollo Control, Houston here. That is Walt Cunningham giving that report on the position of the SLA panels. He is in conversation with Tom Stafford who is an expert on angry alligators from the Gemini days. The crew is simulating a docking approach at this time in to the SLA area. They won't go in so close as to touch it, but they will operate in the area. They are taking pictures and in general, they will fly a formation with the S-IVB for the next 10 to 15 minutes.
Watch more
CLICK HERE: Apollo 7 - 16mm Onboard Film: Earth Looking Views of S-IVB
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