Apollo 11mm Commemorative Now Shipping!

December 18, 2019 TVO Staff

Tele Vue CEO Al Nagler with Apollo 11mm eyepiece and his Alan Bean, (4th Man to Walk on the Moon) autographed print.

Just in time for the holidays: the Tele Vue Apollo 11mm collectible eyepiece is now shipping!

When you receive your Tele Vue Apollo 11mm eyepiece, please post a photo on social media and tag it:

#televue #apollo11

In recognition of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing, Tele Vue is proud to celebrate our founder’s contribution to the greater effort that made the mission possible and ultimately successful. The special, limited edition commemorative Tele Vue Apollo 11mm eyepiece pays tribute to the simulator program that was invaluable to astronaut training and to the direct influence it had on the eyepieces we enjoy today. We have developed unique packaging for the Apollo 11 eyepiece that consists of a high quality, presentation box with a message from Al and a serialized commemorative medallion matching the serialized eyepiece.

The public became aware of this special project when we premiered three Apollo 11mm prototypes at the Northeast Astronomy Forum (NEAF) show in April. We explained that this was a first for Tele Vue: a one-off, limited production, serialized commemorative eyepiece. Our dealers started taking pre-orders soon after.

The NEAF show may seem a long time-ago, but it was toward the end of a much longer process that had been put in motion to create this special eyepiece. It has been a long path from concept, design, prototyping, and production to delivery, but that’s simply the time necessary to deliver the product as we wanted it.

You can read the back story of the Tele Vue Apollo 11mm on our Tele Vue’s Secret Launch: Apollo 11mm Eyepiece! blog post from back in April.

Apollo 11mm eyepiece undergoes testing in 5″ f/4 flat-field Multi-Purpose Telescope (MPT) test refractor with variable iris.

Obverse and reverse of Apollo 11mm commemorative coin.

The production eyepieces arrived at our headquarters earlier this December and have been given the quality checks every one of our eyepieces receive.

With inspection complete, each Apollo 11mm is being packaged in a custom fit foam holder embedded in a distinctive display box with self-closing magnetic flap. Eyepieces are inserted with serial number facing out and the matching serialized coin placed in the cutout above it.

A word about serial numbers: in total, only 300 production eyepieces were made plus three prototypes. So the serial numbers run from “001” to “303” with first three being assigned to the prototypes. Number “001” was donated to an auction on CloudyNights.com to benefit the family of Tom Trusock.

Dealers are getting random lots of serial numbers — so no dealer has the exclusive on coveted “low numbers” or “special numbers.”