Buzz Aldrin's jacket during Apollo 11 sold for $2.7 million
Eva Deschamps / July 27, 2022
The jacket worn by American astronaut Buzz Aldrin during his trip to the moon during the Apollo 11 mission in July 1969, was sold Tuesday at auction in New York for $ 2.7 million, announced the company Sotheby’s.
This white jacket, on which one can see the American flag, the NASA and Apollo 11 mission acronyms, as well as the name E. ALDRIN, was part of a personal collection of objects that the astronaut, now 92 years old, had decided to put on sale.
This exceptionally rare garment was coveted by several bidders for nearly ten minutes before being sold to a buyer by phone, Sotheby's said in a statement.
After careful consideration, the time seemed right to share with the world these objects which, for many, are symbols of a historic moment, but which, for me, have always remained personal mementos of a life dedicated to science and exploration, said Buzz Aldrin, the last surviving member of the Apollo 11 astronaut trio, when the sale was announced.
In total, the auctions totaled $8.2 million for 68 lots sold out of 69 offered, including $819,000 for a flight plan summary.
In the lot catalog, Buzz Aldrin specified that the jacket for sale was separate from the spacesuit he wore when he descended to the lunar surface with Neil Armstrong, but that he wore it during the three-day outbound trip and the three-day return trip aboard the Apollo 11 spacecraft.
The suits worn on the moon by Armstrong and Aldrin are part of the collections of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington.