Topline
Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon and the only surviving crew member of the historic Apollo 11 mission, will auction off artifacts and mementos tied to the 1969 moon landing and other NASA missions at Sotheby’s later this month, with price tags possibly stretching into seven figures.
Lunar Module Pilot Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin in the lunar module (LM) during NASA’s Apollo 11 lunar … [+]
Key Facts
Among the items up for sale is the inflight jacket Aldrin wore to the moon and back, with the serial number 1039 and his name “E. Aldrin” printed above the Apollo 11 mission patch, which Sotheby’s estimates could sell for as much as $2 million.
The auction will be the only time a garment flown during the historic moon landing will be available for private ownership, Sotheby’s said, as the jackets worn by Aldrin’s crewmates Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins are both part of the Smithsonian collection.
Another notable lot is the broken circuit breaker switch that infamously could have left the crew stranded on the moon, along with the felt tip pen Aldrin used to ignite the engine when the switch malfunctioned.
The circuit breaker switch and pen have a sale estimate of between $1 million and $2 million and have been loaned out by Aldrin to museums across the nation like the Museum of Flight in Seattle and, most recently, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
Another rare Apollo 11 artifact included in the auction is a systems activation checklist Aldrin brought with him to the moon and then back again, although the crew was directed to dispose of any non-essential items on the lunar surface before takeoff.
The checklist is filled with notes Aldrin made while on the lunar surface, and is expected to fetch between $150,000 and $250,000, Sotheby’s said.
The auction house estimates the jacket will sell for between $1 million and $2 million, making it … [+]
The broken circuit breaker switch almost meant disaster for the Apollo 11 crew, and the felt tip pen … [+]
Key Background
Aldrin is the only surviving crew member of the 1969 Apollo 11 mission, after Collins died last year. Space-related memorabilia has proven a hit at auction in recent years, in part because of the public’s renewed interest in space travel as a result of the “billionaire space race,” a set of private ventures run by Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson. In April, samples of lunar dust collected by Neil Armstrong during the Apollo 11 mission sold for $504,375 at auction, after NASA lost a court battle to keep the specimens off the private market.
Big Number
2.9 million. That’s how much a Soviet-era space capsule fetched in a 2011 auction, the record price paid at auction for space exploration memorabilia. It had been used in a series of unmanned tests leading up to the launch of Vostok I, which took cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into space in 1961.
Further Reading
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)
Apollo 11 Astronaut Michael Collins’ Rare Omega Speedmaster Watch Is Up For Auction (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2022/07/18/this-jacket-worn-by-buzz-aldrin-to-the-moon-and-back-could-sell-for-2-million-at-auction/