RICK: What do we have here?
A piece of heat shield off the Apollo 11 space capsule.
RICK: All right.
Do you need some help with that, buddy?
ROWAN: Yeah.
RICK: That's seriously cool.
ROWAN: Yeah.
We decided to come to the pawn shop
today to sell our piece of the Apollo 11 space capsule.
The least I'll take is half a million
because it's from the Apollo mission.
He's 11 years old.
We need to start thinking about college expenses.
Where in the world did you get this?
ROWAN: My great-grandfather found it washed
up on the beach in the Bahamas.
So how does that mean it came from the Apollo 11 capsule?
Well, it was the only thing at the time
they were using this for.
And do you know why you need a heat shield?
It keeps the astronauts inside the capsule
from burning up when the capsule re-enters the atmosphere.
Oh, you're good.
It took the Apollo program years to come up
with a fiberglass heat shield that
could protect the astronauts.
Have you had it checked out by anybody?
MAT: Some NASA experts said it looks
like a piece of heat shield from one of the Apollo capsules.
I mean, if it's off Apollo 11, it's pretty cool.
I mean, first time we landed on the moon.
"One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."
It still makes my hair stand up.
The Apollo 11 moon landing is one of the greatest
events in human history.
A piece of it would be a huge find.
But before I'm going to make an offer,
I need the answers to a lot of questions.
Did you go to the aerospace museum?
MAT: Yep.
It looks exactly the same size and shape as the missing
part on the capsule.
So what's that mean?
It's most likely from the Apollo 11 capsule.
RICK: I have no idea.
Let me have someone look at it though, OK?
The Apollo space program represented the best
of America, and to hold anything associated with it
is really cool.
If it's real, we got some serious money here.
Hey, Rick.
MARK (VOICEOVER): The guys usually call me down here when
they've got an interesting piece,
they need a little bit more history on it,
and I try to help them out.
So what have we got today?
RICK: A piece of heat shield they claim
is off the Apollo 11 capsule.
MARK: That's cool.
I can remember when we stepped onto the moon.
It was a hugely important thing, and it was the culmination
of that space race that John F. Kennedy set us on when he said,
we will go to the moon within the decade.
And we made it.
Now, the heat shield part of the space program
was one of the most important parts.
It's an aluminum honeycomb, and then this is a phenolic resin
is what they call it.
And this was literally individually injected
in each part of the honeycomb.
MAT: Wow.
To be able to come up with a heat shield that could slow
down the transmission of heat from tens of thousands
of degrees on the outside to 70, 75 degrees on the inside,
it was a technological marvel.
So what are your concerns?
I just don't know.
Is it off the Apollo 11 capsule?
It is, I believe, from the Apollo program.
There were a number of rockets sent up
to test various thicknesses of heat shields.
One of the things about the heat shield on the command module
is you'll never find holes like this in it.
It had to be a solid piece.
ROWAN: When I was looking at it, this seems to fit on here.
No, I don't think so.
The other thing is there is no charring,
so this is a piece that didn't make it through the atmosphere.
This is not off the command module.
However, I do believe that it's off something
within the Apollo program, probably
one of the test rockets.
I think you've got a really wonderful piece.
RICK: Well, thanks, Mark.
Very good to meet you. ROWAN: Good to meet you.
Thank you for bringing it in.
MARK (VOICEOVER): Even though, no, it's not off the command
module, no, it's not off Apollo 11,
it's still out of that program, so he ought
to be proud that he's got it.
Unfortunately, I couldn't make you an offer.
That's really kind of disappointing news, but--
It's still extremely cool, and I still love it.
OK. All right.
Thanks for coming in.
I appreciate it. - You bet.
RICK: Thanks a lot.
Thank you.
ROWAN: I was a little disappointed
when he didn't make me an offer, but maybe I'll just keep it.