RCU Camera Bracket and Related Hardware
Assembled by Eric M. Jones and Ulrich Lotzmann
Last revised 22 September 2014
While in the LM cabin before an EVA, the
astronauts would secure each Hasselblad camera, along with a
trigger/handle assembly, to a camera bracket via a screw and
thumbwheel. The cameras were then loaded in a Equipment
Transfer Bag for the trip down to the surface. There, each
astronaut then mated his camera to a fitting on his
chest-mounted Remote Control Unit (RCU).
| Post-flight photo of Apollo
14 CDR EVA Hasselblad plus trigger/handle attached to the
yellow-colored camera bracket. NASA Photo S71-34039. Click
on the image for a larger version. |
| Apollo 12 Mission Report
figure 14-45, exploded view of the
Camera-Trigger-Handle-Bracket Assembly. |
| Detail from Apollo 17
training photo KSC-72P-363 showing Jack Schmitt's camera
bracket mounted on his RCU. Jack was seated on the the LRV
during a fit check. Click on the image for a larger
version. See, also, the full image. |
| National Air and Space Museum photo of the back of an Apollo RCU Camera bracket. Origin unknown. The astronauts fit the bottom of the dovetail on the bracket over the tapered top of the RCU camera mount seen the next image. They then pushed the bracket down until a spring-loaded latch at the bottom of the release lever on the astronaut's left engaged with the cut-out seen just above the Phillips screw head in the next image. Image used with permission, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (TMS a20010294000sg1). |
| RCU training unit
photographed by Ulli Lotzmann at the National Air and
Space Museum in 2006. View from the front. |
| Buzz's flight RCU leaning against his flight OPS during a fit-and-function session. The bracket has been fitted on the RCU camera mount. The release lever would be on Buzz's left when he was wearing the RCU. (S69-38496) |