Apollo 11 lunar checklist and flight plans offer glimpse into history
Auction house Sotheby's shows off the lunar surface checklist sheet and flight plans used by the Apollo 11 astronauts.
A checklist that traveled to the surface of the Moon and flight plans used by the Apollo 11 astronauts will be auctioned in New York this week.
The incredible Lunar Surface Checklist Sheet accompanied Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in the Lunar Module Eagle. “It records the steps that they were to follow before they stepped out on the lunar surface, explained Cassandra Hatton, vice president and senior vice president for books and manuscripts at Sotheby’s, told Fox News.
The Checklist Sheet, which is signed by Buzz Aldrin, has a pre-sale estimate of $50,000 to $80,000.
BAG OF NASA MOON DUST SELLS FOR $1.8M AT AUCTION
A Flight Plan Sheet that describes Armstrong and Aldrin’s activities just 75 minutes after they landed on the lunar surface will also be auctioned on Nov. 29. The Flight Plan has a pre-sale estimate of $30,000 to $50,000. Another Apollo 11 document described by Aldrin as “one of Neil Armstrong’s most extensive set of notes made in the entire flight plan,” has a pre-sale estimate of $40,000 to $60,000.
All three documents were previously in Buzz Aldrin’s private collection. “There’s a tremendous amount of interest [in the Moon Landing],” Hatton told Fox News. “This is a really universal thing, we can all look up at the stars and get excited about going to the Moon.”
Next year marks the 50th anniversary of the historic Moon landing.
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A host of space artifacts will be auctioned by Sotheby’s this week. Three tiny Moon rocks brought back from space by the Soviet Luna-16 mission, for example, are expected to sell for up to $1 million when they go up for sale on Nov. 29. An extremely rare complete American spacesuit from the Gemini space program is also expected to sell for up to $150,000 at auction.
Last year a bag filled with Moon dust by Neil Armstrong was sold by Sotheby’s for $1.8 million.
The bag had previously been misidentified and mistakenly sold at an online government auction for $995. The Chicago-area woman who purchased the bag won an intense court battle with NASA, which attempted to retrieve the artifact.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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