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Steve Jurvetson's personal collection of Apollo Lunar Module parts

137 points by gessha 2y ago

iancmceachern 2y ago
I've seen these personally, I have a bunch of pictures too. Thanks to my friend Jack! I think the coolest things were: A piece of the Hindenburg The lunar module computer The big rocket engine with the hand welded cooling tube making up the rocket nozzle. Truly amazing to see the workmanship up close.
consumer451 2y ago
Here is a two-part tour of the collection via Scott Manley's YT.[0] There is more than just Apollo stuff. According to the first video, the most expensive acquisition was a shovel which was used to dig/scoop on the moon. There is also a request for information about an old Soviet data storage device which neither Steve nor Scott knew anything about.[1] If anyone has any ideas, I'm sure they would appreciate a comment or email. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjoSCPIjVwg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjoSCPIjVwg [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK6Fn5iWSHQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK6Fn5iWSHQ [1] https://youtu.be/MK6Fn5iWSHQ?t=1068 https://youtu.be/MK6Fn5iWSHQ?t=1068
- dmix 2y ago
  I like how excited Steve is explaining this stuff kid in a candy store
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
aftbit 2y ago
Lots of this stuff has ended up at CuriousMarc's lab, for restoration and archiving. I strongly recommend his YouTube channel if you're into electronics tinkering and/or Apollo.
- lobsterthief 2y ago
  Thanks for the recommendation! This is a fascinating channel indeed.
mmastrac 2y ago
CuriousMarc has been repairing some of Steve Jurvetson's pieces on YouTube. Fascinating work. I hope that this collection finds its way to the public museums in the future where it can be maintained in perpetuity. The current curator seems to care deeply about it and it would be amazing if that continues for future generations.
- nordsieck 2y ago
  > I hope that this collection finds its way to the public museums in the future where it can be maintained in perpetuity. Public museums are not bad per se, but they have a lot of disadvantages. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mO6F9CfgMg4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mO6F9CfgMg4 My summary of the argument: * Modern museums tend to cater to the general public, which means interesting and unique pieces that are of primary importance to experts in the field are often not on display. * Private collectors are often better at making their collections available in meaningful ways. * The bulk of a museum's collection tends not to be displayed at any one time. Of course, it's a risk if he were to transfer his collection to another private individual - a museum is the safer option. But I don't think the decision clear cut either.
  - Arainach 2y ago
    >Private collectors are often better at making their collections available in meaningful ways. Citation very much needed. The vast majority of items in private collections, including the entirety of the vast majority of private collections, are unknown, uncatalogued, and utterly unavailable.
    - asddubs 2y ago
      yeah, this reeks of confirmation bias. It's cool that Steve Jurvetson lets CuriousMarc play with his collection to this extent, and what we got out of it has been amazing, but I don't assume this to be the general case. Counterexample: The AGC they restored was sold and then never heard from again. Of course it must be said that they had the opportunity to restore it to begin with because it was privately owned. Although if you're into vintage computing, you'll see there's also museums who loan out pieces to youtubers to restore/make videos about.
naves 2y ago
I’ve been lucky enough to see in person many of these pieces when they were exhibited in DFJ’s offices in Sand Hill Road (~2017-2018). It’s an extraordinary collection.
- belter 2y ago
  The tour is amazing: https://youtu.be/4FOF0f70Hoc https://youtu.be/4FOF0f70Hoc Back in the Sixties the Russians already had two secret space stations in orbit with working machine guns: https://youtu.be/4FOF0f70Hoc?t=408 https://youtu.be/4FOF0f70Hoc?t=408
  - atonse 2y ago
    I don't know much about Jurvetson (apart from him being a VC) but his passion, enthusiasm, and deep knowledge of each of these items in the video is infectious. Very cool stuff.
cpr 2y ago
[flagged]
- exe34 2y ago
  > uniformly extremely glum and down. If you had just come back from the moon, you'd be over the moon, so to speak. it sounds like a pretty tiring trip tbh, and if you saw me after a long hike, you'd think a loved one died, not that I had the time of my life.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
dgacmu 2y ago
FV was our seed-round VC, and I snagged a set of photos if anyone wants more -- though they're not nearly as good as Steve's photos in the link above! https://photos.app.goo.gl/uPBt1z3UnLxoSx9P7 https://photos.app.goo.gl/uPBt1z3UnLxoSx9P7 But I really liked the spacex honeycomb lander leg that I didn't see in the flickr set. It's a truly amazing collection.
Quai 2y ago
I'm not a jealous person. I dont want his money. But his collection of space things? Oh, I'm green with envy!
sema4hacker 2y ago
I wish the captions would just stay on instead of fading in and out.
spoonjim 2y ago
Crazy that you can sexually harass women and buy up one of the world's amazing collections of space exploration artifacts. Karma is such a laughable concept
- pinewurst 2y ago
  Don’t forget shilling for Theranos: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-19/early-theranos-investor-remains-supportive-even-without-answers-ifydlf03 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-19/early-the...
  - mlindner 2y ago
    Being deceived doesn't make you a bad person. Theranos deceived a lot of people. That's kind of the point.
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
- dgacmu 2y ago
  I don't think this is a great place to re-litigate this, but I believe DFJ's investigation found a pattern of affairs, but not harassment. https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2017/11/18/steve-jurvetson-left-dfj-over-pattern-deception-affairs-women-report-says/878237001/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2017/11/18/steve-jurvets... Which, eh, in my mind, harassment deserves heavy consequences but that also necessitates being careful to differentiate.
- fnord77 2y ago
  > While there were allegations of inappropriate behavior, DFJ did not receive an official complaint of harassment or misconduct.[28][29] While the findings of the investigation were not made public, anonymous sources alleged that the investigation "uncovered behaviors by Jurvetson that were unacceptable related to a negative tone toward women entrepreneurs. So anyway, what do you think should happen to him? All his possessions seized? Life in prison?
fnord77 2y ago
"Andy Weir, author of The Martian, holds a Mars rock for the first time" um...
- mulmen 2y ago
  It’s part of a meteorite.

137 points by gessha 2y ago

I've seen these personally, I have a bunch of pictures too. Thanks to my friend Jack! I think the coolest things were: A piece of the Hindenburg The lunar module computer The big rocket engine with the hand welded cooling tube making up the rocket nozzle. Truly amazing to see the workmanship up close.

consumer451 2y ago

Here is a two-part tour of the collection via Scott Manley's YT.[0] There is more than just Apollo stuff. According to the first video, the most expensive acquisition was a shovel which was used to dig/scoop on the moon. There is also a request for information about an old Soviet data storage device which neither Steve nor Scott knew anything about.[1] If anyone has any ideas, I'm sure they would appreciate a comment or email. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjoSCPIjVwg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjoSCPIjVwg [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK6Fn5iWSHQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK6Fn5iWSHQ [1] https://youtu.be/MK6Fn5iWSHQ?t=1068 https://youtu.be/MK6Fn5iWSHQ?t=1068

dmix 2y ago
I like how excited Steve is explaining this stuff kid in a candy store

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

aftbit 2y ago

Lots of this stuff has ended up at CuriousMarc's lab, for restoration and archiving. I strongly recommend his YouTube channel if you're into electronics tinkering and/or Apollo.

lobsterthief 2y ago
Thanks for the recommendation! This is a fascinating channel indeed.

mmastrac 2y ago

CuriousMarc has been repairing some of Steve Jurvetson's pieces on YouTube. Fascinating work. I hope that this collection finds its way to the public museums in the future where it can be maintained in perpetuity. The current curator seems to care deeply about it and it would be amazing if that continues for future generations.

nordsieck 2y ago
> I hope that this collection finds its way to the public museums in the future where it can be maintained in perpetuity. Public museums are not bad per se, but they have a lot of disadvantages. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mO6F9CfgMg4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mO6F9CfgMg4 My summary of the argument: * Modern museums tend to cater to the general public, which means interesting and unique pieces that are of primary importance to experts in the field are often not on display. * Private collectors are often better at making their collections available in meaningful ways. * The bulk of a museum's collection tends not to be displayed at any one time. Of course, it's a risk if he were to transfer his collection to another private individual - a museum is the safer option. But I don't think the decision clear cut either.
- Arainach 2y ago
  >Private collectors are often better at making their collections available in meaningful ways. Citation very much needed. The vast majority of items in private collections, including the entirety of the vast majority of private collections, are unknown, uncatalogued, and utterly unavailable.
  - asddubs 2y ago
    yeah, this reeks of confirmation bias. It's cool that Steve Jurvetson lets CuriousMarc play with his collection to this extent, and what we got out of it has been amazing, but I don't assume this to be the general case. Counterexample: The AGC they restored was sold and then never heard from again. Of course it must be said that they had the opportunity to restore it to begin with because it was privately owned. Although if you're into vintage computing, you'll see there's also museums who loan out pieces to youtubers to restore/make videos about.

naves 2y ago

I’ve been lucky enough to see in person many of these pieces when they were exhibited in DFJ’s offices in Sand Hill Road (~2017-2018). It’s an extraordinary collection.

belter 2y ago
The tour is amazing: https://youtu.be/4FOF0f70Hoc https://youtu.be/4FOF0f70Hoc Back in the Sixties the Russians already had two secret space stations in orbit with working machine guns: https://youtu.be/4FOF0f70Hoc?t=408 https://youtu.be/4FOF0f70Hoc?t=408
- atonse 2y ago
  I don't know much about Jurvetson (apart from him being a VC) but his passion, enthusiasm, and deep knowledge of each of these items in the video is infectious. Very cool stuff.

cpr 2y ago

[flagged]

exe34 2y ago
> uniformly extremely glum and down. If you had just come back from the moon, you'd be over the moon, so to speak. it sounds like a pretty tiring trip tbh, and if you saw me after a long hike, you'd think a loved one died, not that I had the time of my life.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]

dgacmu 2y ago

FV was our seed-round VC, and I snagged a set of photos if anyone wants more -- though they're not nearly as good as Steve's photos in the link above! https://photos.app.goo.gl/uPBt1z3UnLxoSx9P7 https://photos.app.goo.gl/uPBt1z3UnLxoSx9P7 But I really liked the spacex honeycomb lander leg that I didn't see in the flickr set. It's a truly amazing collection.

Quai 2y ago

I'm not a jealous person. I dont want his money. But his collection of space things? Oh, I'm green with envy!

sema4hacker 2y ago

I wish the captions would just stay on instead of fading in and out.

spoonjim 2y ago

Crazy that you can sexually harass women and buy up one of the world's amazing collections of space exploration artifacts. Karma is such a laughable concept

pinewurst 2y ago
Don’t forget shilling for Theranos: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-19/early-theranos-investor-remains-supportive-even-without-answers-ifydlf03 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-19/early-the...
- mlindner 2y ago
  Being deceived doesn't make you a bad person. Theranos deceived a lot of people. That's kind of the point.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
dgacmu 2y ago
I don't think this is a great place to re-litigate this, but I believe DFJ's investigation found a pattern of affairs, but not harassment. https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2017/11/18/steve-jurvetson-left-dfj-over-pattern-deception-affairs-women-report-says/878237001/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2017/11/18/steve-jurvets... Which, eh, in my mind, harassment deserves heavy consequences but that also necessitates being careful to differentiate.
fnord77 2y ago
> While there were allegations of inappropriate behavior, DFJ did not receive an official complaint of harassment or misconduct.[28][29] While the findings of the investigation were not made public, anonymous sources alleged that the investigation "uncovered behaviors by Jurvetson that were unacceptable related to a negative tone toward women entrepreneurs. So anyway, what do you think should happen to him? All his possessions seized? Life in prison?

fnord77 2y ago

"Andy Weir, author of The Martian, holds a Mars rock for the first time" um...

mulmen 2y ago
It’s part of a meteorite.