^Lot 449 Apollo 15

Large Apollo 15 lunar module stowage bag, used for the temporary storage of lunar samples and soiled with lunar dust from the Hadley-rille region of the moon. Beta cloth bag measures approximately 29 x 18.5. Bag has a two-zipper large storage compartment which is soiled inside with lunar dust. Smaller compartments on the outside are labeled “PGA Drink Bags,” “Temp Stow Bag,” and “Utility Light.” Each zippered compartment is covered with a Velcro flap. Bag also has four brown adjustable brown straps with a clip at each end. Bag also has two solid metal clips. There are two tags attached to one of the loops. The first is a yellow parts removal tag from the Space Division, North American Rockwell Corporation, filled in by an employee identifying the model number V36-3, Stowage Bag (LM) and dated October 13, 1971, and a smaller handwritten label which reads, “Lunar Module Storage Bag Apollo 15, P.N. NPL; White, large, dirty. Transfer.”

Accompanied by a January 22, 1996 letter from a staff agent of the Mascoutah Aerospace Museum, which reads, in part: “I am transferring to you, the large flown Apollo 15 Lunar Module stowage bag. This Lunar Module bag was part of a larger collection of flown Apollo artifacts, acquired by the Mascoutah Aerospace Museum. This flown Apollo 15 beta material bag can be identified in the following ways:

On the back panel is a faint Smithsonian ‘NASM’ ink inventory stamp…It is also marked with a large yellow parts removal tag…It is identified with the ‘Removal Number #769,’…this is then followed by Several Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum inventory stamps, inspection numbers and finally dated “10/13/71”…The Apollo 15 crew used this large bag to return ‘excessive’ quantities of lunar samples. This bag was originally to be left on the lunar surface with the whole host of other items marked for disposal. This bag was then stored in the Lunar Module, transferred to the Command Module and then returned back to earth with those ‘excessive’ amounts of lunar samples.”

This large, LM temporary stowage bag represents a rare opportunity to own a complete and important lunar surface artifact. Flown items from any moon mission are highly desirable, but lunar surface items of this size and quality that have been soiled from exposure to lunar dust even more so. Owning any stand-alone moon rock or fragment is illegal, making this bag and its trace amounts of lunar soiling from the Hadley-rille region as close to owning a moon rock as possible.