Sotheby’s said “Buzz Aldrin: American Icon” is one of the most important space exploration collections to come to the market.
Buzz Aldrin’s flown inflight coverall jacket from the Apollo 11 mission has sold for $2.7 million at Sotheby’s. This means the item he wore to the Moon and back is the most expensive jacket ever sold at auction.
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Moreover, the said lot fetched over $700,000 above its maximum estimate of $2 million.
“Created from Teflon-coated Beta cloth with snaps at wrists, waist, collar, and front opening, the jacket features the iconic emblem patches of the NASA ‘Meatball’ logo affixed to the right chest, and the Apollo 11 Mission Emblem fixed under the name tag reading ‘E. Aldrin,’” Sotheby’s described the jacket.
According to Aldrin, the jacket was part of a complete inflight coverall garment custom-made for each crew member. They would spend the majority of their mission in these “much more comfortable” attires rather than their full pressure garments.
The “Buzz Aldrin: American Icon” auction took place in New York on July 26. It featured 69 lots, estimated to sell between $1,000 to $2 million.
Altogether, the auction achieved a sales total of $8.18 million. Sotheby’s senior press officer Derek Parsons has since called it the “most valuable single space exploration auction ever staged.”
These items came directly from Aldrin’s own collection. Alongside carefully preserved artifacts from Aldrin’s missions are memorabilia from his private life.
Aldrin served as lunar module pilot of Apollo 11 when it landed on the Sea of Tranquility 53 years ago.
Together with his fellow astronauts Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins, Aldrin in July 1969 successfully met President John F. Kennedy’s challenge to put a man on the moon before the decade ends.
Banner Photo by NASA via Sotheby’s website
