Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin auctioned unique items from his space career

From 6pm Dutch time Buzz Aldrin’s stuff got hammered. According to the 92-year-old astronaut, “it was a good time” to share his collection with the world. within The 69 things The ones he put up for sale included the jacket Aldrin wore in the Columbia Command Module during his trip to and from the Moon. She eventually raised $2.7 million.

Despite the somewhat faded colors, the jacket still exudes the charisma and heroism of the Apollo years past. However, some other things mainly depended on the story behind it.

broken button

Take, for example, the dented pen, which was presented with a broken button. If you come across them in an unwanted drawer while cleaning, you will ruthlessly dispose of them. But thanks to the special story, they also expected to get about $2 million for it.

That story: when you exit the eagle landing unit to see that famous one small step On the brave land of the moon, or while going after that walk—when quite unknown—Neil Armstrong or Buzz Aldrin with their huge beams must have broken a button in the eagle by mistake. The button is already in the auction.

Aldrin saw him lying on the ground, resting after his first moonwalk. It turns out that it’s not just a button. It came from the probe’s control panel, and it was supposed to start the motors to lift the Eagle back up after the mission.

Armstrong and Aldrin knew they would die on the moon without working engines. The rescue mission could arrive in a few months at the earliest. While colleagues on Earth, in Houston, were working on a solution, the two astronauts were also working on their own. The solution eventually came from Aldrin: He stuck a pin (now also up for auction) in the hole on the control board so it could still start the motors. Sotheby’s has yet to reveal how much of the temporary start button it has made in the auction.

In addition to many of the auction items already used during Apollo 11—texts, charts, lunar maps, logos, flags, and more—several goodies from the previous Gemini 12 mission, a flight that included a spacewalk, were put up for auction. made. He also auctioned a report he wrote at West Point Military Academy and several awards and medals, including the prestigious Presidential Medal of Freedom he received from President Nixon, as well as the original MTV Video Music Award.