The Steerable S-Band Antenna was part of a system used by the crew of the Apollo Lunar module to communicate with the astronaut on board the Command Module, and to National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) ground stations. The system operated in the "S-Band" of frequencies: between 2,000 and 4,000 MHZ. The antennas were built by contractor Dalmo Victor, a Textron division. Solar Division of International Harvester was subcontracted by Dalmo Victor to provide reflectors for the Steerable S-Band Antenna System due to the company's expertise in working with advanced materials, specifically because of the extreme high temperature and stress specifications that the reflectors would need to meet. Peter Taggett was a member of the Research Lab at Solar who worked on the development of the reflectors.

NASM.2020.0013

Arranged, described, and encoded by Jessamyn Lloyd, 2020.

Taggett, Peter

Circa 1960s to 2000s

Peter Taggett, Gift, 2020, NASM.2020.0013

0.05 Cubic feet (1 folder)

This collection is in English.

No restrictions on access

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Documents

Photographs

Collection is in original order.

This collection consists of a binder of material compiled by Peter Taggett, for use in motivational speaking presentations, regarding his work at Solar Division of International Harvester on the reflectors for the Apollo Steerable S-Band Antenna System. The first section is an account, written by Taggett, which provides context about the work, information about how the project was organized, and his recollections of working on the project. It is illustrated with technical drawings and photographs from a variety of sources. The document also contains twelve original black and white photographs from Solar. Other material in the document includes copies of photographs of the tools Taggett used to work on the reflectors; copies of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) photographs; copies of Solar company newsletters; images of a flight-ready S-Band Antenna System on display at the Stafford Air & Space Museum; and copies of other historical and technical information on the Apollo program and the antenna system from a variety of sources. The collection also contains a copy of the document on CD.

Documents

Photographs

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Apollo Steerable S-Band Antenna System Illustrated Document, NASM.2020.0013, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

National Air and Space Museum Archives