Apollo 11 Graffiti

Smithsonian Institution
February 11, 2016
Media Photo/Video

Photos for News Media Use Only

Social Media Share Tools
Smithsonian Institution

While 3D scanning the Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia, museum staff uncovered writing on its interior walls. On this panel, numbers and other notations copied from mission control voice transmissions were recorded in pen or pencil, just to the left of where command module pilot, Michael Collins, would have stood using the spacecraft's sextant and telescope for navigation. Audio and recorded transcripts of those communications can be compared with these numbers to suggest when and by whom they were written.

Smithsonian Institution photo