At TimeTraders we don’t normally do digital, but here’s a nice little piece for you. Well, when I say little, I actually mean big, very big. It’s also expensive, at R200,000.00 and if you want it, the postage is another R4,000.00.
So what do you get for this hefty chunk of cash? The simple answer is a very cool piece of history.
What we’re talking about is an original Apollo countdown clock from the Launch Control Centre at Kennedy Space Centre. This is the real deal, and for those of us old enough to remember, the clock was witness to the tense, but now infamous NASA chatter that went along with the sharp end of every launch. This is what it sounded like when Apollo 11 was launched, on 16th July 1969:
“Thirty seconds and counting. Astronauts report it feels good. T minus 25 seconds. Twenty seconds and counting. T minus 15 seconds, guidance is internal. 12, 11, 10, 9 … ignition sequence start … 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0 … All engines running. Liftoff! We have liftoff … 32 minutes past the hour, liftoff on Apollo 11. Tower clear”
It’s hard to believe that fifty-three years after this happened the clock ends up for sale on eBay!
So how did it get there? Well, it’s all about NASA engineer Charles Bell who was one of those blokes that never threw anything away. Appalled at the quantity of material being scrapped, as the Space Program moved on from the Mercury-Gemini-Apollo era, he set about rescuing as much of the hardware as he could. He purchased tons (literally!) of stuff that was being sold for scrap by NASA with the intention of creating a museum someday, but quickly became overwhelmed by what he’d salvaged. Where do you put a surplus $10 million Atlas rocket that you bought as scrap for just $10.00?
Bell sadly died at age 57 in February 2000, as did his dream of a museum. His passing created a bonanza for collectors of space artefacts and the smart cookie that picked up the countdown clock is now cashing in on his find.
At just over a metre long it’s not something you can slap on your wrist, so don’t expect to see it on the TimeTraders website anytime soon!
