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Apollo 11

Apollo 11 sampling tools and containers

The physical hardware Apollo 11 carried to gather and seal lunar samples — the first and simplest geology kit of the program, catalogued in engineering detail by the Allton tool catalog. This article inventories the implements; how they were used during the moonwalk (the contingency → bulk → documented sequence) is covered in lunar sample collection and containers. Every item had to be worked by a pressure-suited crew in bulky gloves, so the tools favored large grip surfaces, minimum weight, and dust tolerance, and were built from contamination-safe materials (mostly 6061 aluminum and 300-series stainless, with Teflon the only accepted plastic).

Collection tools

Section titled “Collection tools”
  • Contingency soil sampler — a collapsible handle with a Teflon bag, used to grab a quick soil sample right after egress and stow it for ascent, insurance that some lunar material would return if the EVA aborted. (Flown on 11, 12, 14, 15.)
  • Core tubes (2-cm diameter, ×2) — thick-walled drive tubes for a near-surface soil column. Apollo 11’s tubes had an inverted-funnel bit designed for fluffy soil that did not penetrate the dense regolith well; the bit was redesigned after Apollo 11. Driven by hammering the extension handle.
  • Extension handle (short) — a single handle that mated with the scoop, hammer, and core tubes, sparing the weight of a long handle on each tool; pounded with the hammer to drive the core tubes. (Flown on 11 and 12.)
  • Hammer (lightweight) — to break chips from rocks and drive the core tubes, and to serve as a hoe on the extension handle. Tool-steel head (vacuum-deposited aluminum coat), aluminum handle. The heavier broad-headed hammer came later.
  • Scoop (large, box-shaped) — a fixed-angle aluminum scoop (~39 cm) used with the extension handle; in low gravity it needed a covered pan and a rotating technique to keep soil from being flung. (Flown on 11, 12, 14.)
  • Tongs (small) — aluminum-tined tongs for picking up individual 6–10 cm rocks, fastened to the suit. The longer 32-inch stainless tongs were a later-mission item.

Support and documentation

Section titled “Support and documentation”
  • Spring scale — the heavier early-mission scale, carried on Apollo 11 and 12 to weigh the loaded containers against the strict ascent weight limit. (The compact “sample scale” replaced it from Apollo 14.)
  • Brush-scriber-lens — a marking/observing aid that was likely never used on any mission; the catalog could not confirm whether it even flew on Apollo 11.
  • Gnomon — a tripod stadia rod for photographic scale, sun angle, and a gray/color reference. The catalog is ambiguous for Apollo 11: a figure captions a gnomon among “Apollo 11-type” tools, but the verified Apollo 11 inventory omits it and the gnomon’s own mission list begins at Apollo 12.

Containers — sealing and packaging

Section titled “Containers — sealing and packaging”
  • Apollo Lunar Sample Return Container (ALSRC, “rock box,” ×2) — the primary return vessels: box and lid each machined from one block of 7075 aluminum, a triple seal (a knife edge biting into soft indium metal plus two fluorosilicone O-rings), and York-mesh padding to damp shock; interior ~16,000 cm³. Two flew on every mission; on Apollo 11 they served as the bulk-sample and documented- sample boxes (curation IDs in collection and containers). Leakage was later found in 4 of the program’s 12 returned boxes.
  • Gas Analysis Sample Container (GASC) — a small 304L-stainless vacuum can holding soil for later gas analysis; its thin bottom was punctured in the lab. Flown only on Apollo 11 and 12.
  • Special Environmental Sample Container (SESC) — a knife-edge-into-indium sealed can preserving a sample from terrestrial atmosphere and cabin gases.

Containers — carrying

Section titled “Containers — carrying”
  • Documented sample bags (flat, rectangular, ×6) — individually numbered bags for context-documented samples. The catalog notes the Apollo 11 crew had difficulty opening them, and the exact Apollo 11 bag configuration was never pinned down.
  • Weigh bags (×3) — Teflon-film tote bags that held rocks and soil as collected (tethered to the suit or LM) and were then packed into the ALSRCs. They were the precursor to the later Sample Collection Bags.

What Apollo 11 did not carry

Section titled “What Apollo 11 did not carry”

A useful negative inventory: the rake, drill, trenching tool, LRV soil sampler, adjustable-angle scoops, 32-inch tongs, any tool carrier (MET or rover rack), the Core Sample Vacuum Container, LESC, Magnetic Shield container, organic monitors, protective padded bags, and Sample Collection Bags were all later-mission additions. Apollo 11’s tools came straight out of the LM’s MESA.

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Sources

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Topics

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