Part Of Christie's Sale Celebrating Space Exploration

The instruction manual that guided Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to a successful landing on the moon is set to be auctioned by Christies as part of a larger sale celebrating space exploration and the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11.

Geek.com reports that, according to Christies, the manual was on board the Eagle lunar lander right between Armstrong and Aldrin as Armstrong reported "Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."

Just after landing, Aldrin wrote the coordinates of the lander on page 10 of the book, the first off-world writing by a human.

The auction is set for July 18 in New York. The auction manifest describes the handbook as "the most important manual used to accomplish the goal of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth.”

Along with detailed instructions and contingency plans, the book has nearly 150 annotations and completion checkmarks made by Armstrong and Aldrin during their time on theMoon. There are also traces of what appears to be lunar dust on the transfer list pages.

The book had been in Aldrin's personal collection until he sold it to a private individual. Christie's believes the book will bring anywhere from $7 to $9 million.

(Image provided by Christie's)

FMI: Source report