Sotheby's Sells The Item For $62,500

An anonymous American collector has purchased the checklist used by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin for landing on the moon. The document, which was signed by Aldrin, went for $62,500 at a Sotheby's auction Monday.

Fox News reports that the Lunar Surface Checklist which traveled to the surface of the Moon 50 years ago had a pre-sale estimated value of between $40,000 and $60,000. "It records the steps that they were to follow before they stepped out on the lunar surface," explained Sotheby's vice president and senior vice president for books and manuscripts Cassandra Hatton in an interview with Fox News.

But that was not the most expensive Apollo 11 artifact to go under the gavel. An unnamed American collector paid $75,000 for a Flight Plan Sheet for the mission used by Neil Armstrong. Aldrin described the document as one of Neil Armstrong’s most extensive set of notes made in the entire flight plan.” However, a second Flight Plan Sheed did not find a buyer.

The Russian space program was also represented at the auction. Three tiny moon rocks that were returned to Earth by the unmanned Soviet Luna-16 mission sold at the auction for $855,000. It was estimated that they could go as high as $1 million.

Next year will be the 50th anniversary of the historic Apollo 11 Moon landing.

(Image from file)

FMI: Source report