Apollo clean: A crew recently used microfiber towels, brushes and a special vacuum to clean the Apollo 16 spacecraft. The capsule was getting ready for events marking the 50th anniversary of its flight in 1972 to the moon.
Brushing dust off the side of the capsule while dressed in protective clothing, Stewart said the command module was in “pretty good shape” considering its age and how long it had been since the last cleaning about three years ago.
Richard Hoover, a retired NASA astrobiologist who serves as a docent at the museum, remembered a time decades ago when visitors could touch the spacecraft. Some even picked off pieces of the charred heat shield that protected the ship from burning up while reentering Earth’s atmosphere, he said. Conservation procedures changed as preservationists realized that a ship built to withstand the rigors of space travel didn’t hold up well under the constant touch of tourists, Stewart said. That’s why the case surrounding the capsule is sealed.
Perched atop columns, the capsule — nicknamed “Casper” during the flight — is tilted so visitors can look inside the open hatch and see controls and the metal-framed seats where astronauts Ken Mattingly, John Young and Charlie Duke rode to the moon and back.
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