RR Auction has slated a Space and Aviation Autograph and Artifact Auction featuring more than 850 museum quality artifacts from the Golden Age of aviation and space flight from May 16 to May 23.
This historic sale includes selections of space and aviation related autographs, covers, photos, patches, hardware, correspondence, reports, and many types of flown personal mementoes and equipment originating from many of the aviators’ and astronauts’ collections themselves, as well as from the personal holdings of many of the hobby’s leading space artifact collectors.
Some representative highlights from the vintage aviation and space artifact include:
Apollo 11 ‘Joystick,’ shared by moonwalker Buzz Aldrin and Command Module Pilot Michael Collins during mankind’s first lunar landing mission: Awe-inspiring flown rotation hand controller grip from the Apollo 11 Command Module.These controls, one mounted alongside each couch, were connected in parallel so that they operated in a redundant fashion without switching. This handle would have been mounted to the right of the center couch, which means it was probably between Aldrin and Collins during the flight of Apollo 11’s Command Module and would have been used as a backup to the Commander’s control. In all over 85 lots of historic Apollo 11 material will be featured.
EKG Taken as Apollo 11 Commander Neil Armstrong Took Man’s First Step on the Moon: An actual strip of the EKG from Armstrong’s heart monitor at the moment he stepped onto the lunar surface. Strip is affixed to a presentation sheet which reads, “EKG Recordings Taken as Apollo 11 Commander Neil Armstrong Took Man’s First Step on the Moon” and “4:13:24:28 Ground Elapsed Time.”
Moon Map: Flight flown 17-foot long lunar orbit map and lunar orbit EVA cue card, and lunar surface EVA cue cards and a lunar surface EVA map plate used aboard the lunar rover: a total of 29 lots of Apollo 17 material from the last lunar landing mission of Apollo.
Faith in Space: An assemblage of space flown and lunar surface religious artifacts, including microfilm bibles from both Apollo and the International Space station, an Earth-orbit papal flag, a lunar surface flown prayer covenant, and a 750+ page full-text daily prayer and devotional book flown and used aboard Skylab and one of the very few space flown books available to private collectors.
Buzz Aldrin Moon walker ‘Onesie’ styled undergarment: Apollo-era Constant Wear Garment, manufactured in 1968, issued to Buzz Aldrin for use during the Apollo 11 training and mission. Garment has multiple openings and attachments at midriff to integrate the bioinstrumentation harness which each crew member wore and served multiple functions during flight including providing the crew member with warmth, in addition to absorption and transportation of sweat.
A gold plated Lunar Traverse Gravimeter: a production model of the same gravimeter used on the lunar surface during the Apollo 17 mission. One of only three in existence — one left on the lunar surface by Apollo 17, the mission’s back-up at the Smithsonian, and one other at Columbia University.
Lunar rover schematic carried under the front seat and across the surface of the Moon for over 22 miles: “In the event of a system or electric motor failure during one of our EVAs, I would have reviewed the schematic to attempt to repair the rover or transfer electrical power from a failed battery to another working battery. If one of the wheel motors failed, a review of the schematic would have advised me how to transfer alternative electrical power,” says Gene Cernan Apollo 17 Moonwalker.
For more information on this auction, including how to order a catalog, how to bid online, and to see the full 850+ lot description preview, go to the RRAuction.com.