James Lovell's Hand Calculations Saved Spacecraft

The phrase, "Houston, we have a problem," is a famous line from the 1995 Ron Howard movie,"Apollo 13." Now, the handwritten notes of Commander James Lovell, including the calculations which led to the safe return of the spacecraft to Earth, have brought $388,375 at auction.

Lovell (pictured) tells Reuters, "I was cleaning out some old stuff on a bookcase and found it. My kids took all they wanted and I donated a lot of my collection to museums. I decided to put this up for auction so that someone who is really interested in this piece of history can enjoy it."

The hand calculations contained in the notes may be an oddity to young people today, who have more computational power in their mobile phones than was carried on the Apollo 13 mission in 1970. Lovell recalls, "I didn't even have a calculator to do the arithmetic. I had to ask the people in Houston to double-check my numbers."

Michael Riley, a senior historian at Heritage Auctions, adds, "That's why this is a very, very important piece of space memorabilia and American history."

Reuters reports other space memorabilia sold Wednesday included an American flag from the Apollo 11 mission in 1969, which brought $33,460, and an overall training jacket worn by retired astronaut John Young, which fetched $17,925.

FMI: http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/history/apollo/apollo-13/apollo-13.html