Spacewriter Phill Parker's cosmic collection to lift off at Lichfield auction

Spacewriter Phill Parker's cosmic collection to lift off at Lichfield auction

A STELLAR collection reflecting a Staffordshire man’s lifelong fascination with space flight is coming to auction in Lichfield.

Esteemed spacewriter Phill Parker enjoyed a ringside seat for the golden years of space exploration, communicating with NASA and meeting American astronauts and Russian cosmonauts.

Now part of his archive featuring space-flown components, meteorite fragments, NASA system manuals and press packs goes under the hammer with Richard Winterton Auctioneers on Monday, August 19, at The Lichfield Auction Centre, Wood End Lane, Fradley Park, starting at 9.30am.

The 77-year-old retired computer engineer from Newcastle-under-Lyme has been fascinated by the cosmos his entire life.

Enthralled from a very young age by first science fiction stories from the library, by age eight he was reading non-fiction books on missiles.

Phill at NASA Kennedy Space Center a few hours before the launch of the USA's first space station, Skylab, by the giant Saturn V rocket.

As the Cold War and hydrogen bomb testing led to the launch of satellites and the early years of the Space Race, Phill was hooked for good and still remembers tuning in to hear the ‘beep beep beep’ signal from the just-launched Sputnik in 1957.

“You look up at the stars and wonder what’s out there,” said Phill.

“I still do. The fact that we’ve been able to go out there through engineering has kept me fascinated throughout all these years.”

In 1964 aged 17, he joined the British Interplanetary Society (BIS) and within months was selected to write articles for the group’s magazine, Spaceflight.

Having proved his capability, Phill was given the task of covering the USA’s Project Gemini at the height of the Space Race in 1965 and was put in touch with agencies including NASA and aerospace manufacturers.

Phill Parker with Apollo 13 astronaut Fred Haise.

“I was then lucky enough to be chosen to cover the early Apollo missions for the BIS,” he said.

“I had to get proper press clearance from NASA and the US Airforce to cover the Apollo 11 Moon landing in 1969.

“My reports were written on a typewriter and transatlantic calls were very expensive, so it wasn’t feasible to be there in person.

“But I went to America two months later to witness the launch of Apollo 12 and met engineers, managers and quite a number of astronauts.”

Over the years, he attended the launch of Skylab, the United States’ first space station set underway in 1973, visited Mission Control in Houston and the US Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville.

Phill beside the first stage of Apollo Saturn V Moon rocket showing its five giant F-1 rocket engines.

Phill’s press pass also enabled him to attend press conferences with astronauts such as Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Charles Duke, John Young and Eugene Cernan.

“I spent nearly a full day with John Young in Scotland,” he said.

“They were engineers at heart. If you asked them what it was like to walk on the moon, they’d heard that question a thousand times before.

“But if you asked them an engineering question then their eyes would light up.

“That was the way I got into correspondence with Neil Armstrong, who was a professor of aerodynamics.”

Phill with NASA Kennedy Space Centre rocket propellant manager Ray E Smythe Jr at Florida Space Park opposite the launch pads.

Phill’s spacewriting has been praised at the highest level, such as a comment made Apollo 11 commander Armstrong on Phill's article about the Apollo on board computer: "I've learned a lot more about the computer after reading your article."

Phill also met a number of Russian cosmonauts and remembers a trip to Moscow in 1974 where he was able to visit the historic Soviet spacecraft displays at the Moscow Economic Exhibition – a rare opportunity for Westerners in those Cold War Soviet Communist days.

During 1960s, 1970s and 1980s Phill also gave space talks up and down the UK to schools, university and community groups and then started organising exhibitions featuring some of his archive.

“I was a computer engineer but this was like a secondary job taking up much time from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s,” he said.

The auction on August 5 features spaceflight hardware from rockets and space shuttles including an Apollo module power supply and parts from Saturn V, Mercury-Redstone, Spacelab and Gemini.

Phill in front of NASA VAB rocket, Florida assembly building, awaiting launch of Saturn V.

Other highlights include cosmonaut Alex Volkov’s signed MiG helmet and flight suit.

“This was Alex's MiG helmet used during training for his Soyuz spaceflight missions,” said Phill.

“He was a Soviet Union ‘Top Gun’ pilot – hence why he was chosen because of his piloting and reactionary skills

“Cosmonauts would enter test vacuum chambers in these suits and helmets at Star City outside Moscow before mission to practice procedures in a mock-up spacecraft inside chamber.

“They were also used at extreme altitude during MiG flights – higher than Concorde I was told – and, of course, used as a ‘spacesuit’ inside the vacuum test chambers that simulate space conditions.

Cosmonaut Alex Volkov showing Phill how he put on the helmet which features in the auction (top) just before he signed it on the lower back. Right: Phill Parker with Volkov (left) and Russian space mission manager Alex Martynov (inset).

“The early Vostok/Voskhod suits used in space were not very much different to these suits except the helmet was more voluminous and there was an outer orange garment.”

The collection also includes seed packets which have made the journey to space, astronaut feeding tubes with a pineapple and grapefruit drink and a peach drink, and more than 50 meteorite pieces including Moon meteorite samples.

There is a Cape Canaveral communication headset as used by ground control during Project Mercury and Project Gemini; posters signed by Alan LaVerne Bean, the fourth American astronaut to walk on the Moon; and a mounted replica of the Apollo 11 lunar plaque signed by Buzz Aldrin.

Literature includes NASA press packs for numerous Apollo missions, official NASA photos from Apollo 9 and original systems training and operating manuals, including a reference manual for the Hubble Space Telescope and a technical summery for the International Space Station.

Part of the collection including the Cape Canaveral communication headset as used by ground control during Project Mercury and Project Gemini and the mounted replica of the Apollo 11 lunar plaque signed by Buzz Aldrin.

Other lots include around 5,000 photographic slides of space scenes, geological maps of the moon and commemorative badges.

Phill’s collection of space-related stamps is due to go under the hammer in another auction at a later date.

David Fergus, valuer for Richard Winterton Auctioneers, said: “This sale is a fantastic opportunity to get a glimpse into one man’s life in the British Interplanetary Society and his dedication to the pursuit of space exploration.

“Many of these items have never appeared at auction anywhere so putting an estimate on is difficult but we expect the collection to realise several thousand pounds.”

Some of the 5,000 photographic slides included in the auction.

The catalogue for the August 19 auction can be viewed a week before the sale via our Auction Dates page.

Viewing in person at The Lichfield Auction Centre takes place by appointment on Friday, August 16, and on sale day people can bid online, in the room or by prior arranged telephone bid.

To arrange viewing or to book a free valuation of any type of item, call 01543 251081 or email office@richardwinterton.co.uk.

Home visits for large collections and house clearance quotations are also available.