Topline
The Apollo 11 spaceflight jacket worn by Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon and the only surviving crew member of the historic 1969 mission, exceeded expectations when it sold for $2.8 million Tuesday.
Aldrin’s Apollo 11 jacket is the only garment from the historic moon landing mission that’s ever … [+]
Key Facts
The jacket, which features patches with Aldrin’s name and the Apollo 11 logo, is both the most valuable American space flown artifact and the most expensive jacket ever sold at auction, according to Sotheby’s.
It was the only time a garment worn during the first moon landing mission has ever been available for private ownership, Sotheby’s said, as the Smithsonian owns the jackets worn by Aldrin’s crewmates, Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins.
Before Tuesday, the record for the most valuable American space flown artifact ever sold at auction belonged to an Apollo 11 lunar dust bag that sold for $1.8 million in 2017.
The most expensive jacket ever sold at auction was the red leather jacket Michael Jackson wore in the Thriller music video, which fetched $1.8 million in 2011, according to Guinness World Records.
Aldrin pictured wearing the jacket on board the Lunar Module during the Apollo 11 lunar landing … [+]
Big Number
$2.9 million. That’s how much the winning bidder paid for a Soviet-era space capsule in 2011, which remains the most expensive piece of space memorabilia ever sold. The capsule was an unmanned predecessor of the Vostok I, which in 1961 took cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into space.
Key Background
Aldrin’s Apollo 11 jacket is the latest in a string of space artifacts to fetch seven-figure sums at auction over the past few years. Auction house experts say interest in space exploration memorabilia is soaring, thanks in part to the Billionaire Space Race, as mega-billionaires Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson turn to private space ventures. Lunar dust collected during the Apollo 11 mission sold for more than $500,000 at auction in April after NASA lost a court battle to keep the artifact off the private market.
Further Reading
This Jacket Worn By Buzz Aldrin To The Moon And Back Could Sell For $2 Million At Auction (Forbes)
The Moon Market: Inside The Multimillion-Dollar Craze For Space And Apollo 11 Collectibles (Forbes)
Lunar Dust Collected By Neil Armstrong Sells For $500,000 – After NASA Lost In Court To Keep It (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2022/07/26/most-expensive-jacket-ever-sold-at-auction-buzz-aldrins-apollo-11-jacket-goes-for-record-28-million/