Jacqui Palumbo and Oscar Holland, CNN
The jacket worn by retired astronaut Buzz Aldrin when he stepped on the moon sold for a record price of $2,772,500 on Tuesday, less than a week after the 53rd anniversary of the landing.
The flight jacket features the historic Apollo 11 mission emblem and “E. Aldrin” for his full name, Edwin. It is made of a tightly woven flame retardant silica fiber called Beta Cloth that is used in the production of Apollo space flight suits.
The sale, which took place at Sotheby’s in New York, made the piece the most expensive jacket ever sold at auction, as well as the most valuable American artifact flown into space, according to a statement from the auction house.
The jacket was part of a colloquium of personal memorabilia and historical NASA items from his career and was expected to fetch up to $2 million. The piece was bid on for nearly 10 minutes, according to Sotheby’s. It is the only piece flown from the Apollo 11 mission in private hands: the jackets worn by crewmates Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins are now in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.
Aldrin, 92, became the second person to set foot on the moon in 1969, after crewmate Armstrong.
Other items sold included Apollo 11 flight plans, including a full mission brief, which sold for $819,000, more than five times its high estimate, as well as a summary of the Eagle lunar module lander, which sold for $327,600. , more than six times their high estimate. The collection also included a fire extinguisher on board the lunar module, several service medals, including a Congressional Gold Medal awarded to Aldrin in 2011, and a famous MTV Video Music Award “moonman” statuette whose likeness was based on Aldrin.
Before the sale, a statement of Sotheby’s said the items in the collection were “among the most significant and valuable space exploration artifacts ever offered at auction.”
In a press release, Aldrin said the collection represents the “summary” of his career as an astronaut.
“After deep consideration, the time was right to share these items with the world, which for many are symbols of a historical moment, but for me they have always been personal memories of a life dedicated to science and exploration,” the former astronaut said. adding, “I hope this collection offers a glimpse of what it was like to be Buzz Aldrin.”
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