Description

25 IRIG Apollo II gyroscope mounted on a wood base with a brass plaque dedicated to David Hoag. The gyroscope is mounted with an IRIG preamp assembly and an Electron Gyro Suspension Capacitor.

The 25 IRIG Apollo II gyroscope was at the heart of the inertial navigation systems pioneered by Charles Stark Draper and his Instrumentation Laboratory colleagues. Originally developed for the inertial guidance system for the Polaris Submarine-launched ballistic missile, it was adapted for use in the Apollo guidance system. Though it was designed at MIT, it was manufactured for NASA by the AC Spark Plug Division of General Motors.

This particular gyroscope flew in space on the Apollo 8 mission, the first crewed spacecraft to leave low Earth orbit and to travel to the moon and back. In recognition of work as the director of the Apollo Guidance and Navigation Program of the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory, NASA presented David Hoag with this instrument.