Whilst Gagarin-related material will be on offer, it is items linked to the Moon landings that are expected to attract most interest, notably the Data Card Book with handwritten entries made during the flight of Apollo 11 by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, which enabled them to make the first manned lunar landing on July 20, 1969. Also in the sale is a space suit overglove heavily embedded with moon dust worn by Eugene Cernan, the last man on the Moon.
The Data Card Book – essentially a navigational notebook – annotated by the first men to set foot on the Moon, is being promoted as embodying “the human and machine interface required to make the first successful lunar landing”. Astronaut Buzz Aldrin has inscribed and signed the cover and the data cards, some of which bear smudges of moon dust (estimate $200,000 to $300,000).
As Aldrin explains in a letter that accompanies it, the Data Card Book “was a critical flight document carried in Lunar Module Eagle that enabled Neil Armstrong and myself to make the first manned lunar landing on July 20, 1969. Neil and I both made data entries and notes in this book before landing, while on the lunar surface, and after L[unar] M[odule] lift-off during rendezvous operations with Mike Collins in [Command Service Module] Columbia.”
Adding that the book represents the realisation of President Kennedy’s ambitions for space travel, Aldrin comments: “All of the developmental efforts and technological accomplishments made in the Mercury, Gemini, and early Apollo programs allowed the data that we recorded in this book to have the accuracy and ability to descend from lunar orbit, make the first lunar landing, leave the Moon’s surface, and make a successful rendezvous to return home.”
Also being offered is the first complete article of space suit equipment with a substantial coating of lunar dust ever to be offered at public auction. It is a protective “overglove” that was worn by Apollo 17 Commander Eugene Cernan, the last man on the Moon, when collecting lunar samples in December 1972. The white fabric is so heavily embedded with lunar dust that it now appears grey (estimate: $200,000-300,000).
The auction is at 1pm on Saturday, April 12. The items will be on public exhibition on Saturday, April 5 and from Monday, April 7 to Saturday morning, April 12.
Gagarin’s anniversary – the perfect launch pad
April 12 marks the 42nd anniversary of man’s first space flight by Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, and Swann Galleries of New York have chosen that date to launch their first space exploration sale.
