Ron Evans Apollo 17 Flown Space Suit Drinking Device

This is a very cool piece that I just bought from Astro Auction and I loved the fact that it came from Ron Evans family. The artifact is the velcro & straw (surgical tubing) of Ron Evans space suit drink bag that he carried on the Apollo 17 mission. Ron passed away in 1990 from a heart attack at the age of 56 and because he died so young, I think a lot of people have forgotten his place in history.

Ron was considered one of the nicest, most down to earth of the Apollo astronauts and he was also one of the funniest. Another fact about Ron is that he was the ONLY Apollo astronaut to fly in combat (7 months from the USS Ticonderoga in 1965-66) and fly an Apollo mission. Ron was also the last Apollo astronaut to walk in space during his 51 minute EVA to retrieve film and experiments from the service module.

I bought this piece because with this drinking straw, is the 32oz plastic drink bag that had deteoraited, into what looks like are small broken potato chips at the bottom of the bag. I'm going to be making up a tribute lucite to Ron and embedding pieces of this drink bag in the piece, with a description of the mission and of Ron's history.

I will NOT be cutting up the straw or velcro that held the bag securely in his space suit. Those will be going in a frame.

COA Kim Poor for Janet Evans