The Jimmie Loocke Space Collection

Born and bred in Pasadena, Texas, Jimmie Loocke is a man of many talents. He once ran a local store called Wonder Warthog Sound and Light, which sold light-show equipment, black-light posters and other psychedelia. He later worked as a thermal vacuum test technician at NASA MSC, human-rating the Lunar Module known as LTA-8, which green-lit Apollo 9. Then fate stepped in. While exploring a scrap-metal warehouse in 1976, looking for circuit boards, he stumbled upon two tons of NASA equipment from the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo space programs, ready to be scrapped and sold by the pound. All of it looked very familiar, so he purchased the lot knowing it contained some items of historical importance. Indeed it did.

Jimmie saved a working Block II Apollo Guidance Computer - coincidentally the same exact one in the Lunar Module he worked on - three LM ascent engines, an Manned Orbiting Laboratory computer, and thousands of flown artifacts from early Saturn tests from being lost forever.

Since then, he’s been collaborating with experts, astronauts, and fellow collectors to bring the AGC and its history back to life. This site is the culmination of that effort - where history can be preserved for future generations.

Feel free to reach out and say hi, if you’re so inclined. Jimmie reads every email.