Asteroid Institute

05/28/2026

When people imagine , they picture launches, moonwalks, and astronauts in white suits. What they rarely picture are the binders.

Flight plans. Docking procedures. Shift-change transcripts. Checklists covered in technical language and contingency planning. These documents formed the working architecture that allowed humans to leave Earth, operate in space, and return safely home.

Now, signed mission documents from Rusty Schweickart’s personal collection are being made available through the Schweickart Auction.

Signed Apollo and Skylab mission documents, flight plans, transcripts, and manuals from Rusty Schweickart’s collection.

05/26/2026

What do you bring with you when you leave Earth?

For on the mission, the answer included a classical music mixtape.

Apollo 9 was the first mission where astronauts were permitted to bring personal music into space, played on a portable cassette recorder carried for voice notes. Rusty selected works by Ralph Vaughan Williams and Alan Hovhaness.

Famously, the tape went missing for much of the flight—whether by accident or at the hands of crewmates who preferred country music remains unclear.

Even in space, some things are human.

Stay informed for the this June.
https://b612foundation.org/nothing-goes-to-space-by-accident-flown-items/

05/19/2026

Small objects. Precise meaning.

Pins, coins, and patches carried aboard the mission marked the spacecraft, the mission, and the program itself.

In a world of strict limits, even the smallest items had to earn their place. https://b612foundation.org/nothing-goes-to-space-by-accident-flown-items/

05/14/2026

“For me, we were representing humanity going into space.” — Rusty Schweickart

That perspective is reflected in the flags carried aboard the Apollo 9 mission.

Alongside national and state flags, a United Nations flag was chosen—a symbol not of a single country, but of a shared world. It reflects how Apollo astronaut Rusty understood the mission: not just as an American achievement, but as something broader.

Stay informed for the upcoming .
https://b612foundation.org/nothing-goes-to-space-by-accident-flown-items/

05/06/2026

“A flown item is defined not just by where it has been, but by the fact that it was chosen to go at all.”

On the mission, every ounce was accounted for. And yet, astronauts were permitted a small Personal Preference Kit: items chosen not for utility, but for meaning.

What chose to carry reflects that reality. Flags representing nations and shared identity. Pins, coins, and patches marking the program itself. And more personal items like music, handwritten quotes, and reflections, carried into orbit alongside the mission.

Explore the story behind what flew. Stay informed for the this June.

https://b612foundation.org/nothing-goes-to-space-by-accident-flown-items/

04/28/2026

Some of these objects were carried into space. Others never left the ground, but were just as essential to what followed.

Together, they trace the full arc of ’s journey—from the mission to decades of leadership in planetary defense.

For more than fifty years, they have remained in his private collection.

Now, a selection of these items will be released, with proceeds supporting the , continuing the work of protecting Earth from impacts.

This collection is a record of how a moment in orbit became a lifelong commitment.

Bidding for the starts June 5th.

Historic artifacts from the Apollo mission and Rusty Schweickart’s private collection offered to support the future of planetary defense.

04/24/2026

In 1969, orbited Earth aboard the Apollo 9 mission and saw something few ever have: a finite, fragile world.

He didn’t leave that perspective behind. He spent decades acting on it, helping build the field of planetary defense and working to protect Earth from impacts.

Now, a selection of objects from his private collection—spanning both flown items and materials from the work on the ground—will be released to support his legacy.

Stay informed for the this June.

Rusty Schweickart’s journey from Apollo 9 to planetary defense, and the collection supporting the Schweickart Prize this June.

04/22/2026

Happy Earth Day to all the crew on Spaceship Earth!

This planet isn’t just where we live—it’s a world moving through a dynamic solar system. We are just one body among many—planets, moons, and —that make up our cosmic neighborhood.

At B612 and the , we’re building the tools to understand where these objects are—to protect our planet, expand our understanding, and enable future exploration.

This Earth Day, join the mission. https://bit.ly/3QmkkP6

04/21/2026

“You realize that on that small spot, that little blue and white thing, is everything that means anything to you… all of it on that little spot out there that you can cover with your thumb.”

In 1969, saw Earth this way while orbiting aboard the mission. He didn’t leave that perspective behind.

In the decades that followed, he helped build the field of planetary defense, co-founding the and working to protect the planet he had seen so clearly.

Now, that legacy is entering its next phase.

Stay informed for the this June. https://bit.ly/4vyCfCc

04/13/2026

From the mission to planetary defense, has spent a lifetime expanding and protecting our place in space.

The objects from his journey—both flown and carried through the work behind the scenes—have remained with him ever since.

Soon, that history will no longer be held by one person. Stay informed for the coming this June.

https://bit.ly/4tBs5ic