The jacket of one of the three astronauts that first went to the moon is now worth around $3 million.
Sotheby's, the world's largest and most trusted marketplace for art and luxury, has recently auctioned off Buzz Aldrin's Apollo 11 jacket for $2.7 million in the spirit of "sharing these items with the world," per Sotheby's official website and CNN.
Thanks to the amount the jacket was sold for, it is now the world's most expensive space-flown artifact, beating Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong's pair of gold medallions, which was sold for $2.05 million, per Space.com.
Buzz Aldrin's Inflight Coverall Jacket, worn by him on his Apollo 11 mission to the Moon is on display July 21, 2022 during a media preview at Sothebys in New York. - The auction is Celebrating Life & Career of Legendary Astronaut Buzz Aldrin featuring Space-Flown Artifacts from Gemini XII & Apollo 11 Missions.
Buzz Aldrin Space Jacket Auction Details
Buzz Aldrin's Flown Inflight Coverall Jacket, along with the rest of his 92-year-old moonwalker's collection, was put into an auction at Sotheby's, with the jacket being lot no. 6 in the collection.
The jacket was manufactured by B. Welson Co. back on Dec. 18, 1968, and was made with a Teflon-coated Beta cloth with snaps at wrists, waist, collar, and its front opening. It also has a plastic reinforced medical connector port and NASA's "meatball" logo located in the jacket's right chest. Meanwhile, a name tag reading "E. Aldrin" was attached to the left chest.
The jacket also has the United States flag sewn into its proper left shoulder.
Interestingly, the jacket also came with a MIRAImage NFT, which will be minted by MIRA to the Ethereum blockchain.
Its value was previously estimated to be somewhere between a million dollars and two million. But when its lot was called during the auction, bidding opened at $500,000.
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The bidding for the jacket continued for nearly 10 minutes. During this time, the auctioneer, Quig Brunning, noted that the jacket's value crossed the $1 million mark. He later then dropped the gavel at $2.25 million.
The jacket was soon sold to an unnamed buyer bidding by phone for $2,772,500, which also includes Sotheby's premiums.
Bruning also announced during that time that the jacket has broken a new world record as it is now the most expensive space-flown artifact in the world.
Aldrin's Pen
Aldrin's pen, which was used to save the Apollo 11 mission at the last minute, was also put into auction by Sotheby's. Although bidding was opened at $500,000, bidders only got a value as high as $650,000 before dropping off.
However, the bidding failed to reach its pre-set reserve, and so it was left as the only unsold item in Aldrin's collection.
You may remember that Aldrin used his pen to repair a broken switch to a vital circuit breaker needed to send electrical power to Apollo 11's lunar module's ascent engine.
Share With The World
Aldrin mentioned that his moonwalker collection represents the "summation" of his career as an astronaut. However, he felt the time was right to share his collection with the world.
"After deep consideration, the time felt right to share these items with the world, which for many are symbols of a historical memnt, but for me have always remained personal mementos of a life dedicated to science and exploration," Aldrin said in a press statement.
He also added that he hopes his moonwalker collection will offer some insight into what it has been like to be him.
Related Article: Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin Became the First Men to Walk on the Moon on This Day in 1969
