A STELLAR collection reflecting a man’s lifelong fascination with space flight is coming to auction in Lichfield.
Writer Phill Parker enjoyed a ringside seat for the golden years of space exploration, communicating with NASA and meeting American astronauts and Russian cosmonauts.
Now part of his archive featuring space-flown components, meteorite fragments, system manuals and press packs goes under the hammer with Richard Winterton Auctioneers on 19th August.
He said:
“You look up at the stars and wonder what’s out there – and I still do.
“The fact that we’ve been able to go out there through engineering has kept me fascinated throughout all these years.”
In 1964 aged 17, he joined the British Interplanetary Society (BIS) and within months was selected to write articles for the group’s magazine, Spaceflight.
Having proved his capability, Phill was given the task of covering the USA’s Project Gemini at the height of the Space Race in 1965 and was put in touch with agencies including NASA and aerospace manufacturers.
“I was then lucky enough to be chosen to cover the early Apollo missions for the BIS. I had to get proper press clearance from NASA and the US Airforce to cover the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969.
“My reports were written on a typewriter and transatlantic calls were very expensive, so it wasn’t feasible to be there in person.
“But I went to America two months later to witness the launch of Apollo 12 and met engineers, managers and quite a number of astronauts.”
The auction features spaceflight hardware from rockets and space shuttles including an Apollo module power supply and parts from Saturn V, Mercury-Redstone, Spacelab and Gemini.
Other highlights include cosmonaut Alex Volkov’s signed MiG helmet and flight suit.
“This was Alex’s helmet used during training for his Soyuz spaceflight missions.
“He was a Soviet Union Top Gun pilot – hence why he was chosen because of his piloting and reactionary skills
“Cosmonauts would enter test vacuum chambers in these suits and helmets at Star City outside Moscow before mission to practice procedures in a mock-up spacecraft inside chamber.
“They were also used at extreme altitude during MiG flights – higher than Concorde I was told – and, of course, used as a ‘spacesuit’ inside the vacuum test chambers that simulate space conditions.
“The early Vostok/Voskhod suits used in space were not very much different to these suits except the helmet was more voluminous and there was an outer orange garment.”
The collection also includes seed packets which have made the journey to space, astronaut feeding tubes with drinks and more than 50 meteorite pieces.
There is a Cape Canaveral communication headset as used by ground control during Project Mercury and Project Gemini, posters signed by Alan LaVerne Bean – the fourth American astronaut to walk on the Moon – and a mounted replica of the Apollo 11 lunar plaque signed by Buzz Aldrin.
Literature includes NASA press packs for numerous Apollo missions, official NASA photos from Apollo 9 and original systems training and operating manuals, including a reference manual for the Hubble Space Telescope and a technical summery for the International Space Station.
Other lots include around 5,000 photographic slides of space scenes, geological maps of the moon and commemorative badges.
David Fergus, valuer for Richard Winterton Auctioneers, said:
“This sale is a fantastic opportunity to get a glimpse into one man’s life in the British Interplanetary Society and his dedication to the pursuit of space exploration.
“Many of these items have never appeared at auction anywhere so putting an estimate on is difficult but we expect the collection to realise several thousand pounds.”
The catalogue for the auction can be viewed a week before the sale via www.richardwinterton.co.uk/auction-dates.
