Lunar Module Hand Controller
Also called the “Attitude Control Assembly” or “ACA” the hand-controller is just a really big and fancy joystick. There were two controls on each side of the LM cockpit so either astronaut could fly the vehicle. The ACA would rotate the LM around its three axis, its attitude. The other is the “Translational Thrust Controller” or the THC, which allowed the LM to be moved forward/backwards, left/right, and up/down.
One of the very first words spoken on the moon was when Buzz Aldrin said “ACA,” as in:
Contact light. Okay, Engine stop, ACA out of detent,….
They were not “the Eagle has landed.”
I’ve always wanted to open ‘er up and see if I could set it up as a joystick for the Eagle-3D landing simulation.