You could call it “great disposition.”
Adapted from the words of Buzz Aldrin (“Gorgeous Desolation”) when he became one of the first people to walk on the Moon 53 years ago this week, Sotheby’s is set to offer artifacts from the Apollo 11 astronaut’s personal collection. (will open in a new tab)including items that were instrumental in the first moon landing mission.
“These sites have not only witnessed the greatest achievements of mankind, but many of them have made this achievement possible,” said Cassandra Hutton, Sotheby’s Global Head and Senior Science and Pop Culture Specialist, in a video preview. (will open in a new tab) sale of the auction house on 26 July. “These are important historical artifacts from that greatest moment in human history. They remind us of what humanity is capable of.”
RELATED: Apollo 11: First Men on the Moon
A member of NASA’s third group of astronauts, selected in 1963, Buzz Aldrin conducted three spacewalks on Gemini 12, the last mission to use a two-seat spacecraft, three years before landing on the moon with Neil Armstrong in 1969. Today, at 92, he is the last surviving member of the Apollo 11 crew (Armstrong died (will open in a new tab) Command Module pilot Michael Collins died in 2012. (will open in a new tab) in 2021).
“The sale spans the entire spectrum of Dr. Aldrin’s career, from his doctoral work at MIT, where he wrote his PhD thesis on the lunar module rendezvous technique, to artifacts from the Gemini 12 mission, where he made his first spacewalk, and objects . from the greatest Apollo 11 mission,” Hutton said.
Although this is not the first auction to offer items from the Aldrin collection. (will open in a new tab) – he and his family members put up for sale memorabilia dating back to the early 1990s – Sotheby’s catalog stands out for the historical nature of the artifacts for sale. 2012 law confirms Apollo-era astronauts retain title (will open in a new tab) space equipment, which they left as a keepsake.
Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin with the breaker tip and felt-tip pen he used to save the first moon landing, pictured together in 2017. Aldrin has now sent the pair up for auction at Sotheby’s on Tuesday, July 26, 2022. (Image credit: Buzz Aldrin via Twitter (@therealbuzz))
Among the highlights of the sale are a felt-tip pen and a broken tip of a circuit breaker, which were crucial to Aldrin and Armstrong leaving the lunar surface.
“None of the circuit breakers were guarded. One was inserted and the other was broken. So I must have put one in and broke one,” Aldrin told the editor of the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal, describing the accident. in the Eagle Lunar Module in a 1991 interview.
It so happened that a broken switch was needed to turn on the lander’s elevating engine. While flight controllers at Mission Control were developing a software solution, Aldrin came up with his own idea.
“Buzz ingeniously pulled a felt-tip pen from his sleeve pocket,” Hutton said. “Amazingly, the tip of this pen fits perfectly into the hole where the broken switch was. He stuck it in there and miraculously the engine was able to catch fire and they were able to pack up and rendezvous with Mike. [Collins] and return home.”
A Duro-branded ink marker and plastic tip provided to the Smithsonian Institution in 2017 for a two-year five-city tour with the Apollo 11 Command Module. (will open in a new tab)they are expected to sell for between $1 million and $2 million.
Sotheby’s also offers the jacket Aldrin wore during the Apollo 11 mission when he wasn’t wearing a pressure suit.
“It has the NASA emblem, the Apollo 11 eagle emblem, its name and the American flag, and some of the most famous photos of the mission, aside from the real moonwalk, have Buzz in this jacket in the spacecraft,” Hutton said. “There are no other clothes on this mission that can be worn privately.”
The suits worn by Aldrin and Armstrong on the lunar surface, as well as the flight suits donated by Armstrong and Collins, are in the care of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Aldrin’s jacket is expected to sell for between $1 million and $2 million.
Buzz Aldrin’s “Go Army, Beat Navy” fabric banner, which he displayed during his Gemini 12 spacewalk, is expected to sell at the Buzz Aldrin: American Icon auction for between $20,000 and $30,000. (Image credit: Sotheby’s)
Other highlights of the Buzz Aldrin: American Icon sale include the complete Apollo 11 documents and checklists used to complete the mission, as well as the Go Army, Defeat the Navy banner that Aldrin carried during one of his spacewalks. Gemini 12.
Up to Gemini 12, Gemini 6 [launched] shortly before the 1965 army-navy football match. So, in the window of the Gemini 6 spacecraft, Wally Schirra and Tom Stafford hung a sign “Beat Army”. So when Gemini 12 showed up, Buzz was in a spaceship with [Jim] Lovell, who was in the Navy and Buzz was in the Army, so as he was hovering in space, Buzz pulled out of nowhere this amazing “Go Army, Defeat the Navy” banner, Hutton said.
Sotheby’s expects a black and white fabric sign to cost between $20,000 and $30,000.
In addition to space artifacts, the sale also features memorabilia, including waving flags, philatelic covers (collectible envelopes with postmarks and postmarks), the MTV VMA Moonman Award figurine. (will open in a new tab) presented to Aldrin and his Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Buzz Aldrin: An American Icon Sale (will open in a new tab) will be held at Sotheby’s New York from 12:00 pm EST (16:00 GMT) on Tuesday, July 26th. The exhibition of auction lots will begin from Thursday (July 21) to July 25.
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