Analysis of lunar samples from the Apollo 14 mission (Photo Credit: NASA)
Analysis of lunar samples from the Apollo 14 mission (Photo Credit: NASA)

One Giant Leap: Artefacts from first NASA moon missions set to go on auction

Nearly 200 artefacts from the NASA missions of the 1960s and 1970s, including the Apollo and Gemini programmes, will go on auction on July 18 at Christie's New York.

New York, June 28 (IANS): Nearly 200 artefacts from the NASA missions of the 1960s and 1970s, including the Apollo and Gemini programmes, will go on auction on July 18 at Christie's New York.

The much-anticipated auction, titled One Giant Leap: Celebrating Space Exploration 50 Years After Apollo 11, is highlighted by a written record kept by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, the first two humans to land on the moon.

The Apollo 11 Lunar Module Timeline Book was used by the pioneering astronauts to navigate the lunar module Eagle onto the surface of the moon on July 20, 1969 -- a day 50 years ago about which Armstrong later worded his famous quote: "One small step for man, a giant leap for mankind."

"The book includes traces of moon dust and almost 150 handwritten annotations including Lunar Module Eagle's coordinates on the lunar surface within moments of landing, marking the first writing by a human being on an extraterrestrial body," Christie's said in a statement on Thursday.

It is estimated to sell for $7-9 million (INR 48-62 crore).

Also on offer are a large US flag flown aboard Apollo 10, a camera lens and dust brush used on the lunar surface during the Apollo 14 mission and a large lunar landscape planning chart dating from May 1971.

The chart is inscribed with mission details by a member of every Apollo landing crew and is the most outstanding example of its kind produced for NASA during the Apollo programme, said the global auction house.

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