A jacket worn by US astronaut Buzz Aldrin in 1969 on the first successful moon landing mission, Apollo 11, has been auctioned for the equivalent of 2.7 million euros. The white jacket with the logos of the US space agency Nasa and the Apollo 11 mission, a US flag and the name “E. Aldrin” achieved a price of 2.77 million dollars on Tuesday, according to the auction house Sotheby’s in New York.
The jacket was previously owned by Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, who became the second person to walk on the moon on July 20, 1969, after fellow astronaut Neil Armstrong. It is not the space suit that the 92-year-old wore when entering the moon. Rather, he wore the jacket in the command module “Columbia” during the flight from the earth to the moon and back again.
The jacket was auctioned along with 67 other items owned by Aldrin. Total proceeds were $8.2 million. An Apollo 11 flight plan has been auctioned for $819,000.
“After careful consideration, the time felt right to share these items with the world,” Aldrin said ahead of the auction. The objects are “for many symbols of a historical moment, but for me they have always been personal mementos of a life devoted to science and exploration.”
