Apollo 17 astronauts Gene Cernan (left) and Ron Evans share a whimsical moment on their homeward journey. Cernan’s umbilical
control head is at bottom. Note, however, that the black umbilical cable is labeled “C” for Center. This would have been Ron Evans’ cable. Apparently the astronauts shared the equipment as needed.
(NASA photo). Also see details about Cernan’s flown headset.
The control head artifact flew on Apollo 17 as -41, then was modified to -71 to support the Apollo-Soyuz mission as a flight-ready
spare. The -71 revision changed the beta cloth cover to two layers, and added the part number tag on the cover. The serial number remained “AAJ3078.”
Apollo missions flew with four control heads, one for each of the three crewmembers plus a spare. It is not known
who may have used this artifact on the Apollo 17 mission.
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