This interior view of the Apollo 11 Lunar Module shows Astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., lunar module … [+]
Fifty-three years ago today on July 20, 1969 Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the Moon during the historic Apollo 11 mission.
Now 92, Aldrin will auction his personal collection of space mementos on July 26 at Sotheby’s in New York.
Inflight Coverall Jacket Worn by Aldrin on his Journey to the Moon and Back
The highlight of Sotheby’s Geek Week will be Aldrin’s Apollo 11 flight jacket, which has a pre-sale estimate of $1 million to $2 million.
Armstrong and command modul pilot Michael Collins’ flight jackets are at the Smithsonian, along with all three crew members’ A7L pressure suits.
The Buzz Aldrin: American Icon auction will include space-flown artifacts, personal items and other objects from Aldrin’s private collection, with the best lots relating to his Gemini XII (during which he performed a spacewalk) and Apollo 11 missions.
Also expected to fetch between $1 million and $2 million is a broken circuit breaker switch and pen that has a special place in Apollo 11 lore.
The story goes that as Armstrong and Aldrin were preparing to lift-off from the Moon to return to the Command Module in orbit a circuit breaker switch had broken off the instrument panel. Aldrin used a felt tip pen to ignite the engine.
The Switch that Nearly Ended the Lives of the Apollo 11 Crew and the Pen that Saved Them
In a first for an auction, both items will come with a MIRAImage NFT, a unique digital identifier linked to its physical object using novel microscopic 3D scanning technology. The NFT is minted by MIRA to the Ether ETH eum blockchain, thereby recording micron-level details as well as the object’s metadata and provenance information for future proof of authenticity.
The NFT proves that the object was acquired from Buzz Aldrin, something that is critically important for space-flown artifacts, which can only be legally owned if acquired from an astronaut, according to Sotherby’s.
Aldrin will also put up for sale flown documents from the Apollo 11 mission. The Apollo 11 LM Systems Activation Checklist includes notes made by Aldrin while on the Moon. It’s expected to fetch $150,000 to $250,000.
The Apollo 11 LM Systems Activation Checklist, Flown to the Lunar Surface and Meant to be Discarded … [+]
“After deep consideration, the time felt right to share these items with the world, which for many are symbols of a historical moment, but for me have always remained personal mementos of a life dedicated to science and exploration,” said Aldrin. “From the jacket that I wore on my trip to the Moon and back, to the famous broken circuit breaker switch that nearly ended our lives, and the pen that saved us, to various artifacts we used to complete the mission, I hope that this collection offers some insight into what it has been like to be Buzz Aldrin.”
The Apollo 11 mementos will be the highlight of Sotheby’s Geek Week, which from July 20-27 also includes the second largest piece of the Moon on Earth, a piece of the famous asteroid Vesta and a rare meteorite that fell during one of the largest meteorite showers ever on February 12, 1947 in Siberia.
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
