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Christie's offers lunar dust, Armstrong suit
August 6, 1999 — Christie's East will hold its first space memorabilia auction on September 18, 1999. Over 300 lots will be offered, with items associated with astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, Pete Conrad, Wally Schirra and Walt Cunningham as part of the sale.
Among the highlights of the auction are:
- the world's first orbital spacesuit developed by the Soviet space program and used during the first Vostok mission in 1960;
- a copy of the Space Magna Carta, the first international space peace accord, in English and Russian, written during the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project and signed on July 17, 1975;
- a flown NASA emblem and name tag coated with lunar dust from the Apollo 15 mission;
- a manuscript entitled "The Characteristics of the Principle Parts of the Flying Apparatus/Rocket and the Continuation on the Subject of the Outer Space Research by Rocket Devises," written and signed by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935);
- the A5L Apollo spacesuit fitted for Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon in 1969, and possibly the only Armstrong suit in private hands;
- a flown Apollo 11 commemorative postal cover carried to the Moon on the Apollo 11, postmarked August 11, 1969, signed by the crew;
- a flown Apollo 13 A8 Command Module equipment stowage locker;
- a flown Apollo 11 communications headset ear tube assembly used during the moonwalk by Buzz Aldrin on Apollo 11;
Of historical interest is a notebook kept by Gus Grissom, which lists numerous problems with the Apollo command module. The issues he documented directly led to the fire that claimed his life and those of his Apollo 1 crewmates.
The entire sale will be on exhibit at Christie's East in New York a week prior to the auction. A printed version of the catalog is available now, with the online version to follow.
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