DALLAS, TX.- A nearly catastrophic explosion derailed the Apollo 13 mission on its way to a planned lunar landing is the only reason its crew members’ names were not added to the list of 24 who have walked on the moon.

When the seventh crewed mission of the Apollo space program was launched April 11, 1970, from the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the plan was that it would be the third to land on the lunar surface, putting crew members Fred W. Haise, Jr., James A. Lovell, Jr., and John L. Swigert, Jr., on the same tier of universal identification as the likes of Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. But about 56 hours after launch, and more than 200,000 miles from Earth, Haise was completing the shutdown of the lunar module when the crew members heard an explosion. Communication back to Earth was lost for a couple of seconds. Swigert considered the fact that a meteoroid had struck the module, but it turned out an oxygen tank in the service module had ruptured, disabling the vessel’s electrical and life-support systems.

With oxygen in short supply, the decision was made to complete the loop around the moon, rather than forcibly changing direction in favor of a shorter path home. An impromptu change in plans shortened the return trip by about 36 hours, to a little over two days, ending in a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. President Richard Nixon cancelled appointments and called the astronauts’ families and headed to NASA’s Goddard Spaceflight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Pope Paul VI led a congregation of 10,000 in prayer for the astronauts’ safe return. The U.S. Senate passed a resolution urging businesses to pause at 9 p.m. to allow employees to pray.

On-the-fly decisions and calculations by the crew and by the support crew on Earth resulted in the safe return, assisted by other nations at the landing site. An estimated 40 million Americans watched Apollo 13’s splashdown, which was carried live on all three networks. Jack Gould of the New York Times wrotethat Apollo 13, “which came so close to tragic disaster, in all probability united the world in mutual concern more fully than another successful landing on the Moon would have.”

With a status among the most important in the history of the American space program, multiple items from Haise’s personal collection will touch down in Heritage’s Space Exploration Signature® AuctionJune 14-15.

Among the top items in the Haise collection is a magnificent group of Flown Sterling Silver Robbins from Apollo Missions 7 through 12.

“This is an incredible and likely one-of-a-kind keepsake, almost a history book of an enormously important period within the American space program,” says Brad Palmer, Director of Space Exploration at Heritage Auctions. “Space collectors have always cherished flown Robbins medallions. To obtain six sequential examples from the collection of such an important figure in the Apollo program in one item is an incredibly unique opportunity.”

Also from the Haise collection is an out-of-this-world trophy that he received from the famous astronauts who first landed on the moon: an Apollo 11 Lunar Surface-Flown Beta Cloth Mission Insignia Presented by the Three-Man Crew to Haise, who served as the Lunar Module pilot backup for the historic mission. This extraordinary display includes a circular swatch (4-inch diameter) of Beta cloth with a mission insignia depicting an eagle carrying an olive branch to the moon, with Earth in the distance over the eagle’s right wing. Printed below the patch: “This emblem carried to the lunar surface/ July 20, 1969.” The patch is framed along with two 5-by-7-inch color photos of iconic images of the first lunar landing. Affixed to the frame is a metal plate that states: “Presented To/ Fred Haise/ In Appreciation For Your Service To Apollo 11/ From Neil, Mike, & Buzz.” Haise served as Aldrin’s backup for this mission.

Haise wore an Apollo 13 Recovery Ship U.S.S. Iwo Jima Hat while aboard the U.S.S. Iwo Jima and to meet President Richard Nixon in Hawaii. The blue wool baseball-style cap, with yellow cloth bullion on the bill and embroidered “U.S.S. IWO JIMA/ASTRONAUT/HAISE/APOLLO 13” on the front is the headcovering he wore in the iconic recovery photos aboard the U.S.S. Iwo Jima after the flight and dangerous splash landing of Apollo 13. A facsimile of this hat crowns a statue of Haise and the Apollo 13 crew as part of a life-size sculpture that was unveiled at the Space Center in Houston in 2021.

The Haise collection is a remarkable assemblage, but definitely does not include all of the prizes that are available in the auction, among them a pair of lots from The Armstrong Family Collection™ that were aboard the two most significant flights in the history of aviation: an Apollo-11 Lunar Module Flown Piece of the Wright Flyer Propeller and an Apollo 11 Lunar Module-Flown Section of the Wright Flyer’s Wing Fabric, Position No. 145. Each was a part of the first successful powered controlled flight in history at Kitty Hawk in 1903, and later was taken aboard Apollo 11 by Armstrong, who was allowed to retain a portion of the cloth and propeller pieces for his own collection.

An incredibly significant and historically important photo will find a new home when Lunar Orbiter 1: A Crescent Earth Rising over the Lunar Surface in a Photo Taken by the First American Spacecraft to Orbit the Moon is sold in this auction. The Lunar Orbiter program was a series of missions conducted by NASA in the mid-1960s, designed to map the surface of the moon in preparation for the Apollo program that eventually landed humans on the moon. As the Orbiter revolved around the moon, it transmitted photos as analog data through a series of strips. The unmanned spacecraft Lunar Orbiter 1 captured a historic image of Earth from lunar orbit August 23, 1966, marking a groundbreaking moment in exploring space and documenting Earth’s place in the universe. This iconic assembly of the transmitted photos is comprised of Lunar Orbiter images I-102H-1 & 2. The program included five separate missions and returned photos of nearly 99% of the lunar surface, which helped pave the way for NASA’s ultimate lunar landing goal.

The auction includes the crucially important Apollo 17 Lunar Module-Flown “Lunar Surface Flight Plan” Originally from the Personal Collection of Mission Commander Gene Cernan. The plan is a detailed timeline from the time the Lunar Module Challenger undocked from the Command Module America in lunar orbit at 108:00 (Ground Elapsed Time) through their three EVAs, to the ascent liftoff and re-docking with the CM at 187:37 (GET), and the stowage of equipment and samples at 191:18 (GET). Said Cernan: “During our flight, we carried a seven-page flight plan with us to the lunar surface aboard our lunar module, which recorded from the time we undocked for lunar landing until we returned and jettisoned our ‘LM.’ This flight plan is especially historic because it records both mankind’s final Apollo landing on the Moon, and also mankind’s final moonwalk, which I accomplished on page ‘f’ of this checklist (‘EVA-3’)! This flight plan spent over three days on the lunar surface housed within our Lunar Module ‘Challenger,’ during which time it resided within the Moon’s one-sixth gravitational field and the vacuum of deep space!”

Other top lots include, but are not limited to:

• An Apollo 11-Flown American Flag Directly from The Armstrong Family Collection™, CAG Certified

• An Apollo 12-Flown Gold Snoopy in Plaque Presented to NASA’s Apollo Program Director Rocco Petrone, Directly from His Family’s Collection

• An Apollo 11 Complete Flown Heat Shield Ablative Plug #56 in Acrylic Display Directly from the Dr. Rocco Petrone Family Collection

• A NASA Astronaut Group One Vintage Color Photo Signed by All, in Framed Display — signed (left to right): “Scott Carpenter,” “Gordon Cooper,” “J H Glenn,” “Virgil I Grissom,” “W M Schirra Jr,” “Alan B Shepard Jr” and “D K Slayton”

• An Apollo 13 Crew-Signed (by four, with Swigert) “Mission Aborted” Cover

• An Apollo 13-Flown Lunar Surface Map, Signed by James Lovell and Fred Haise