1969 Apollo 11
Intro
The progression within the missions of the Apollo project is the most exciting sequence of innovations in the history of technological developments. Here is this sequence :
Apollo 4, November 1967, first Saturn V launch and first Apollo unmanned flight
Apollo 5, January 1968, uncrewed with the Lunar Module.
Apollo 6, April 1968, qualification of the Saturn V launcher for future crewed flights.
Apollo 7, October 1968, the first Apollo manned flight.
Apollo 8, December 1968, Lunar orbit flight.
Apollo 9, March 1969, Lunar Module test around the Earth.
Apollo 10, May 1969, Lunar Module test around the Moon.
Apollo 11, July 1969 Moon landing and walk on the Moon.
Apollo 4, November 1967, first Saturn V launch and first Apollo unmanned flight
Apollo 5, January 1968, uncrewed with the Lunar Module.
Apollo 6, April 1968, qualification of the Saturn V launcher for future crewed flights.
Apollo 7, October 1968, the first Apollo manned flight.
Apollo 8, December 1968, Lunar orbit flight.
Apollo 9, March 1969, Lunar Module test around the Earth.
Apollo 10, May 1969, Lunar Module test around the Moon.
Apollo 11, July 1969 Moon landing and walk on the Moon.
made in 1968 Aldrin Coverall Jacket
2022 SOLD for $ 2.8M by Sotheby's
The NASA Inflight Coverall Garment (ICG) of an astronaut in flight was made of a jacket plus trousers and boots.
During an Apollo 1 launch simulation in January 1967, a fire accident in the command module killed the three astronauts. The ICG material was then declared as dangerous and its nylon was then replaced by the specially developed fire proof teflon coated Beta Cloth.
The coverall jacket serial number 1039 was completed by the subcontractor in December 1968. During the Apollo 11 mission, Edwin Aldrin wore it in the journey to the Moon and back excepted when a pressured garment was necessary, which were during the launch and in the Lunar Module. The NASA Apollo 11 portrait of Aldrin wearing the jacket is shared by Wikimedia.
Aldrin's Apollo 11 jacket was sold for $ 2.8M from a lower estimate of $ 1M by Sotheby's on July 26, 2022, lot 6 in the sale of his private collection. Aldrin signed a detailed provenance letter. A unique digital NFT identifier using new microscopic 3D scanning technology will be minted to the Ethereum blockchain for authentication of that piece.
Aldrin's jacket is the only Apollo 11 flown garment in private hands, all the others being kept by the Smithsonian.
During an Apollo 1 launch simulation in January 1967, a fire accident in the command module killed the three astronauts. The ICG material was then declared as dangerous and its nylon was then replaced by the specially developed fire proof teflon coated Beta Cloth.
The coverall jacket serial number 1039 was completed by the subcontractor in December 1968. During the Apollo 11 mission, Edwin Aldrin wore it in the journey to the Moon and back excepted when a pressured garment was necessary, which were during the launch and in the Lunar Module. The NASA Apollo 11 portrait of Aldrin wearing the jacket is shared by Wikimedia.
Aldrin's Apollo 11 jacket was sold for $ 2.8M from a lower estimate of $ 1M by Sotheby's on July 26, 2022, lot 6 in the sale of his private collection. Aldrin signed a detailed provenance letter. A unique digital NFT identifier using new microscopic 3D scanning technology will be minted to the Ethereum blockchain for authentication of that piece.
Aldrin's jacket is the only Apollo 11 flown garment in private hands, all the others being kept by the Smithsonian.
Flight Plan
2022 SOLD for $ 820K by Sotheby's
The personal collection of Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, sold by Sotheby's on August 27, 2022, included the complete set of his flown Apollo 11 documents that were defining the mission. It is accompanied by detailed authentication letters by Aldrin. They were split in several lots
The sixth and last section of the Flight Plan provides the abbreviated sequence of the whole mission from launch to splashdown. It is made of 11 pages 27 x 21 cm on 7 leaves and accompanied by the hard cover of the complete Plan inscribed and signed "Flown to the Moon" by Buzz Aldrin. It was sold for $ 820K from a lower estimate of $ 100K, lot 7.
From the rest of the Flight Plan, the sheet defining the touchdown of the Lunar Module on the Moon was sold for $ 330K, lot 8
The sixth and last section of the Flight Plan provides the abbreviated sequence of the whole mission from launch to splashdown. It is made of 11 pages 27 x 21 cm on 7 leaves and accompanied by the hard cover of the complete Plan inscribed and signed "Flown to the Moon" by Buzz Aldrin. It was sold for $ 820K from a lower estimate of $ 100K, lot 7.
From the rest of the Flight Plan, the sheet defining the touchdown of the Lunar Module on the Moon was sold for $ 330K, lot 8
LM Systems Activation Checklist
2022 SOLD for $ 570K by Sotheby's
In the sale of the Aldrin collection by Sotheby's on August 27, 2022, the Lunar Surface flown documents included the LM systems activation checklist, sold for $ 570K, lot 16, the EVA checklist, sold for $ 350K, lot 19, and the map of the Lunar landing site, sold for $ 277K, lot 21.
Armstrong Robbins Medallion
2019 SOLD for $ 2.05M by Heritage
The tradition of commemorative medallions flown in US space missions begins with the first manned Gemini flight. They were made of pewter or sterling and sometimes gilded. Although the production was not documented, their boxes were marked Fliteline. The mission dates are engraved after the return to earth.
The latest series of Fliteline medallions is for Apollo 1. Eight prototypes had been prepared before the cabin fire. As a tribute to his fallen comrades, Neil Armstrong took a gilt specimen with him to the Apollo 11 LM. Coming from his collection, it was sold for $ 275K by Heritage on November 1, 2018.
When the Apollo program restarted in 1968, NASA reorganized this prestigious operation. The design is generally made by the crew of the related mission. Until Apollo 10 the shape is free. The production is entrusted to Robbins Company, a supplier of badges for the FBI and of Olympic medals.
The sterling silver medallions are now serialized, probably because NASA fears that astronauts will derive a personal profit detrimental to its reputation. A few 14K gold medallions are added for the personal collections of the astronauts.
For Apollo 11 in 1969, the drawing is prepared by Michael Collins. Robbins makes 450 silver sterling medallions that are all mission flown except for 10 that had been lost, plus 3 gold medallions, one for each astronaut.
The gold medallion awarded to Neil Armstrong followed him in the Lunar Module Eagle. Coming from his collection and graded MS 67 by NGC, it was sold for $ 2.05M on July 16, 2019 by Heritage, lot 50067 with an opening bid of $ 250K without reserve price. Please watch the video shared by NGC.
Collins's eagle ready to land in a plain of craters under earth light will be re-used for the federal coin of $ 1 between 1971 and 1978.
The scandal of Apollo 15 did not come from medallions but from philatelic envelopes.
The latest series of Fliteline medallions is for Apollo 1. Eight prototypes had been prepared before the cabin fire. As a tribute to his fallen comrades, Neil Armstrong took a gilt specimen with him to the Apollo 11 LM. Coming from his collection, it was sold for $ 275K by Heritage on November 1, 2018.
When the Apollo program restarted in 1968, NASA reorganized this prestigious operation. The design is generally made by the crew of the related mission. Until Apollo 10 the shape is free. The production is entrusted to Robbins Company, a supplier of badges for the FBI and of Olympic medals.
The sterling silver medallions are now serialized, probably because NASA fears that astronauts will derive a personal profit detrimental to its reputation. A few 14K gold medallions are added for the personal collections of the astronauts.
For Apollo 11 in 1969, the drawing is prepared by Michael Collins. Robbins makes 450 silver sterling medallions that are all mission flown except for 10 that had been lost, plus 3 gold medallions, one for each astronaut.
The gold medallion awarded to Neil Armstrong followed him in the Lunar Module Eagle. Coming from his collection and graded MS 67 by NGC, it was sold for $ 2.05M on July 16, 2019 by Heritage, lot 50067 with an opening bid of $ 250K without reserve price. Please watch the video shared by NGC.
Collins's eagle ready to land in a plain of craters under earth light will be re-used for the federal coin of $ 1 between 1971 and 1978.
The scandal of Apollo 15 did not come from medallions but from philatelic envelopes.
Extra Vehicular Activity Tapes
2019 SOLD for $ 1.82M by Sotheby's
On July 20, 1969 at 8:18 pm GMT, the LM Eagle lands on the Moon. 600 million people, representing 20% of the world's population, are waiting in front of their television or radio for the live broadcast of the first steps of man on the moon.
Armstrong descends to the Lunar surface at 2:56. One of his first actions is to start the Westinghouse camera. The first lunar live is perfectly working. Until his return to the LM two hours and a half later, the show is uninterrupted. It is also a considerable event in the history of audio-visual.
The audio is excellent. The sound exchanges between manned space vehicles and the Earth have always been vital, with no right for mistakes. The picture is disappointing. These two black and white bears jumping in their spacesuits are hardly believable. The beautiful color photos taken by Armstrong with a Hasselblad camera hanging on his chest will soon keep quiet the unbelievers.
The television images transmitted by the LM were rudimentary. A single radio channel had to manage both the telemetry data essential to the technical monitoring of the mission and the images of the astronauts. The result was a scan of 320 lines with a rate of 10 frames per second that was well below the threshold of retinal persistence, giving our two plantigrades a jerky motion effect.
Still worse. The protocol used for this transmission was not compatible with the broadcast networks of the television chains. The raw signal received in an observatory in Australia had to be transmitted in real time to Houston where it was converted into a professional television language, not without a significant degradation of sharpness.
To avoid the loss of images in case of transmission failure, the Australian observatory had to make several backup copies which were later delivered to NASA as scheduled.
In 2006 the Sydney Morning Herald is upset : the best motion pictures of man's first walk on the moon are lost. NASA confirms that the tapes have been erased for re-use on other missions. After the success of Apollo 11, no one was interested to them, perhaps because of the increasing difficulty of decoding old programs.
In June 1973 a student had bought for $ 217.77 in a NASA surplus auction a batch of 1,150 reels with their video tapes that he had then scattered for his profit. He had kept three boxes with a tag identifying the Apollo 11 EVA (Extra-Vehicular Activity). Alerted by the desperate research of the NASA, he finds in 2008 a Californian laboratory competent to decode the tapes.
The former student had in his perfectly legal ownership a copy prepared in period by the NASA from the original signal. Never reused before 2008, the three tapes cover in succession all of the EVA. The honor of NASA is saved. A second reading is done two months later to load this very precious content into a hard drive compatible with modern computers.
The set of three tapes was sold for $ 1.82M from a lower estimate of $ 1M by Sotheby's on July 20, 2019, lot 104. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Armstrong descends to the Lunar surface at 2:56. One of his first actions is to start the Westinghouse camera. The first lunar live is perfectly working. Until his return to the LM two hours and a half later, the show is uninterrupted. It is also a considerable event in the history of audio-visual.
The audio is excellent. The sound exchanges between manned space vehicles and the Earth have always been vital, with no right for mistakes. The picture is disappointing. These two black and white bears jumping in their spacesuits are hardly believable. The beautiful color photos taken by Armstrong with a Hasselblad camera hanging on his chest will soon keep quiet the unbelievers.
The television images transmitted by the LM were rudimentary. A single radio channel had to manage both the telemetry data essential to the technical monitoring of the mission and the images of the astronauts. The result was a scan of 320 lines with a rate of 10 frames per second that was well below the threshold of retinal persistence, giving our two plantigrades a jerky motion effect.
Still worse. The protocol used for this transmission was not compatible with the broadcast networks of the television chains. The raw signal received in an observatory in Australia had to be transmitted in real time to Houston where it was converted into a professional television language, not without a significant degradation of sharpness.
To avoid the loss of images in case of transmission failure, the Australian observatory had to make several backup copies which were later delivered to NASA as scheduled.
In 2006 the Sydney Morning Herald is upset : the best motion pictures of man's first walk on the moon are lost. NASA confirms that the tapes have been erased for re-use on other missions. After the success of Apollo 11, no one was interested to them, perhaps because of the increasing difficulty of decoding old programs.
In June 1973 a student had bought for $ 217.77 in a NASA surplus auction a batch of 1,150 reels with their video tapes that he had then scattered for his profit. He had kept three boxes with a tag identifying the Apollo 11 EVA (Extra-Vehicular Activity). Alerted by the desperate research of the NASA, he finds in 2008 a Californian laboratory competent to decode the tapes.
The former student had in his perfectly legal ownership a copy prepared in period by the NASA from the original signal. Never reused before 2008, the three tapes cover in succession all of the EVA. The honor of NASA is saved. A second reading is done two months later to load this very precious content into a hard drive compatible with modern computers.
The set of three tapes was sold for $ 1.82M from a lower estimate of $ 1M by Sotheby's on July 20, 2019, lot 104. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Contingency Sample Bag
2017 SOLD for $ 1.8M by Sotheby's
Before Apollo 11 only the poets knew how to speak about the Moon. Nothing was known about its surface which was perhaps toxic.
Neil Armstrong reached the lunar ground on July 21, 1969 at 02:56:15 UTC. After his statement for the history, his very first activity was to observe the soil and to take small rocks and dust. The managers of the mission wanted to avoid that a later incident prevents this highly precious collection which was carried out before Aldrin descended from the LM to join him. He picked about 1 Kg of dust in 3 minutes 35 seconds in full view from a camera.
Armstrong keeps his specimens in a Contingency Sample Bag specially designed to protect users against unidentified hazards. The bag is made with a multi-layer insulating fiber named Beta cloth along with polyester and closed by a brass zipper. It was emptied during the return journey with a vacuum process that was not very effective since some lunar dust remained inside the bag.
Flight used artefacts from Apollo 11 are very rare in the art market except for a few astronaut-managed memorabilia. The Contingency Lunar Sample Return Outer Decontamination Bag in which Armstrong temporarily stored his first samples was sold for $ 1.8M by Sotheby's on July 20, 2017, lot 102.
The availability of this historic piece at auction is the result of a double negligence from the NASA. In the 1970s when the Agency provided the Smithsonian with what remained of the Apollo 11 mission, the absence of the bag was not identified. NASA also did not check in 2014 a private collection ready to be auctioned on request from the government after a fraudulent behavior of its owner, the former director of a space museum in Kansas.
Identified as "One flown zippered lunar sample return bag with lunar dust ("Lunar Bag"), 11.5 inches; Tear at center. Flown Mission Unknown" the bag was finally bought in March 2015 by an amateur geologist delighted with that opportunity. She opens the pouch, records the references, starts an online search and finds that what she bought for $ 995 is the very first bag to have contained lunar samples.
NASA confirms the authenticity as well as the lunar nature of the dust remaining in the bag. Upset with their own blunder they tried to recover the artefact but the auction had been guaranteed by the US Marshals Service. Two lawsuits confirmed the regular ownership by the bidder who now promises to give to various charities a portion of the proceeds of the sale which she is entrusting to Sotheby's.
Neil Armstrong reached the lunar ground on July 21, 1969 at 02:56:15 UTC. After his statement for the history, his very first activity was to observe the soil and to take small rocks and dust. The managers of the mission wanted to avoid that a later incident prevents this highly precious collection which was carried out before Aldrin descended from the LM to join him. He picked about 1 Kg of dust in 3 minutes 35 seconds in full view from a camera.
Armstrong keeps his specimens in a Contingency Sample Bag specially designed to protect users against unidentified hazards. The bag is made with a multi-layer insulating fiber named Beta cloth along with polyester and closed by a brass zipper. It was emptied during the return journey with a vacuum process that was not very effective since some lunar dust remained inside the bag.
Flight used artefacts from Apollo 11 are very rare in the art market except for a few astronaut-managed memorabilia. The Contingency Lunar Sample Return Outer Decontamination Bag in which Armstrong temporarily stored his first samples was sold for $ 1.8M by Sotheby's on July 20, 2017, lot 102.
The availability of this historic piece at auction is the result of a double negligence from the NASA. In the 1970s when the Agency provided the Smithsonian with what remained of the Apollo 11 mission, the absence of the bag was not identified. NASA also did not check in 2014 a private collection ready to be auctioned on request from the government after a fraudulent behavior of its owner, the former director of a space museum in Kansas.
Identified as "One flown zippered lunar sample return bag with lunar dust ("Lunar Bag"), 11.5 inches; Tear at center. Flown Mission Unknown" the bag was finally bought in March 2015 by an amateur geologist delighted with that opportunity. She opens the pouch, records the references, starts an online search and finds that what she bought for $ 995 is the very first bag to have contained lunar samples.
NASA confirms the authenticity as well as the lunar nature of the dust remaining in the bag. Upset with their own blunder they tried to recover the artefact but the auction had been guaranteed by the US Marshals Service. Two lawsuits confirmed the regular ownership by the bidder who now promises to give to various charities a portion of the proceeds of the sale which she is entrusting to Sotheby's.
Lunar Dust
2022 SOLD for $ 500K by Bonhams
The trade of Lunar material was still forbidden by NASA and the dust traces had been put away by them and reconditioned in SEM sampling aluminum stubs 10 mm each in diameter.
The NASA has lost a legal battle to keep these particles out of private hands. Five stubs, numbered 2 to 6, were returned to the winner of the 2015 auction. Their content was SEM tested and four of them were guaranteed as Apollo 11 Lunar material by NASA in February 2022. The five were sold together for $ 500K by Bonhams on April 13, 2022, lot 21. The number 1 is retained by NASA.
Neil Armstrong had described the dust as follows : "The surface is fine and powdery, I can kick it up loosely with my toe. It does adhere in fine layers, like powdered charcoal, to the sole and sides of my boots."
The NASA has lost a legal battle to keep these particles out of private hands. Five stubs, numbered 2 to 6, were returned to the winner of the 2015 auction. Their content was SEM tested and four of them were guaranteed as Apollo 11 Lunar material by NASA in February 2022. The five were sold together for $ 500K by Bonhams on April 13, 2022, lot 21. The number 1 is retained by NASA.
Neil Armstrong had described the dust as follows : "The surface is fine and powdery, I can kick it up loosely with my toe. It does adhere in fine layers, like powdered charcoal, to the sole and sides of my boots."
LM Identification Plate
2018 SOLD for $ 470K by Heritage
Within the Apollo program, the Lunar Excursion Module was developed and produced by Grumman. Its name was soon simplified to Lunar Module (LM)
LM-1 was operated in earth orbit from the uncrewed Apollo 5. LM-2 was used in ground testing. The LM-3 "Spider" was tested around the Earth by the Apollo 9 astronauts and the LM-4 "Snoopy" was separated and re-docked with Apollo 10 in lunar orbit and then fired to fuel depletion with its descent stage hitting the Moon.
The LM-5 "Eagle" was the Lunar Module of Apollo 11. Three LM flown identification plates 13.3 x 4.4 cm engraved by Grumman were kept after the LM re-docked with the Command and Service Module Columbia. Each of them was mounted to a 25 x 28 cm shield shaped wooden display plaque beneath a metal artist's view of the lunar module.
The three astronauts were presented with one plaque each. The Armstrong example remained in his collection and was signed by his sons. It was sold for $ 470K by Heritage on November 1, 2018, lot 52279. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
LM-1 was operated in earth orbit from the uncrewed Apollo 5. LM-2 was used in ground testing. The LM-3 "Spider" was tested around the Earth by the Apollo 9 astronauts and the LM-4 "Snoopy" was separated and re-docked with Apollo 10 in lunar orbit and then fired to fuel depletion with its descent stage hitting the Moon.
The LM-5 "Eagle" was the Lunar Module of Apollo 11. Three LM flown identification plates 13.3 x 4.4 cm engraved by Grumman were kept after the LM re-docked with the Command and Service Module Columbia. Each of them was mounted to a 25 x 28 cm shield shaped wooden display plaque beneath a metal artist's view of the lunar module.
The three astronauts were presented with one plaque each. The Armstrong example remained in his collection and was signed by his sons. It was sold for $ 470K by Heritage on November 1, 2018, lot 52279. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
November 1969 Omega Tribute to Astronauts
Intro
As a tribute to man's conquest of space "with time, through time, on time" in the wake of the successful moon landing of Apollo 11, Omega created in 1969 a commemorative series of 28 18k gold Speedmaster Professional wristwatches for presentation to the NASA astronauts. This operation is identified as the Omega Tribute to Astronauts.
The Nos. 1 and 2 were offered to the US President and Vice President who declined the gift. They were kept by the brand. The # 3 was for Alan Shepard who had been the very first US astronaut in space and the # 28 posthumously to Roger Chaffee, one of the three victims of the Apollo 1 disaster.
The Nos. 1 and 2 were offered to the US President and Vice President who declined the gift. They were kept by the brand. The # 3 was for Alan Shepard who had been the very first US astronaut in space and the # 28 posthumously to Roger Chaffee, one of the three victims of the Apollo 1 disaster.
1
presented to Wally Schirra
2022 SOLD for $ 1.9M by RR
Walter M. Schirra was the fifth American astronaut to go into space, in the Mercury program. He was involved in the first three NASA manned programs, achieving with Gemini the first ever rendezvous of two spacecrafts in space and being the commander of the first successful crewed Apollo mission.
The commemorative watch No. 8 was awarded to him by Omega in November 1969 at a special gala in Houston attended by all the recipients. This solid 18k yellow gold watch was sold for $ 1.9M from a lower estimate of $ 250K by RR Auction on October 20, 2022, lot 7000. The lost original bezel had been replaced by a period correct Omega bezel.
The commemorative watch No. 8 was awarded to him by Omega in November 1969 at a special gala in Houston attended by all the recipients. This solid 18k yellow gold watch was sold for $ 1.9M from a lower estimate of $ 250K by RR Auction on October 20, 2022, lot 7000. The lost original bezel had been replaced by a period correct Omega bezel.
2
presented to Michael Collins
2022 SOLD for $ 765K by Heritage
Michael Collins flew on Gemini 10 and piloted the Apollo 11 command module around the Moon.
He was awarded the No. 19 Omega watch soon after Apollo 11. He did not wore it often but maintained it in operating condition. This watch with a gold and applied gold dial was sold for $ 765K by Heritage on June 1, 2022, lot 54101.
The Omega watch No. 4 was attributed posthumously to Gus Grissom and presented to his family at the gala dinner of November 25, 1969 in Houston in a special box with a personalized plaque. It is engraved with the reference to Grissom's successful flights on Mercury 4 and Gemini 3.
Gemini 3 had been the first mission to wear the Omega Speedmaster as official equipment. Grissom had been killed in the Apollo 1 ground fire.
In terms of serial numbers produced for the astronauts, this watch is just next to the lowest number, the No. 3 of Alan Shepard. It passed at RR Auction on April 20, 2023, lot 9001.
The same 2023 sale also offered the No. 26 of Apollo 12's Alan Bean, sold for $ 300K, lot 9002. Bean, who had been the fourth moonwalker, featured it extensively on his wrist. The Apollo 12 crew was still in quarantine at the time of the Houston dinner.
The Apollo program continued. Omega made additional watches numbered 1001 to 1008 for the last eight Apollo astronauts. Harrison Schmitt refused the 1008. The 1007 awarded to Ron Evans after his Apollo 17 flight of 1972 was sold for $ 297K in the same 2023 sale as above, lot 9003.
He was awarded the No. 19 Omega watch soon after Apollo 11. He did not wore it often but maintained it in operating condition. This watch with a gold and applied gold dial was sold for $ 765K by Heritage on June 1, 2022, lot 54101.
The Omega watch No. 4 was attributed posthumously to Gus Grissom and presented to his family at the gala dinner of November 25, 1969 in Houston in a special box with a personalized plaque. It is engraved with the reference to Grissom's successful flights on Mercury 4 and Gemini 3.
Gemini 3 had been the first mission to wear the Omega Speedmaster as official equipment. Grissom had been killed in the Apollo 1 ground fire.
In terms of serial numbers produced for the astronauts, this watch is just next to the lowest number, the No. 3 of Alan Shepard. It passed at RR Auction on April 20, 2023, lot 9001.
The same 2023 sale also offered the No. 26 of Apollo 12's Alan Bean, sold for $ 300K, lot 9002. Bean, who had been the fourth moonwalker, featured it extensively on his wrist. The Apollo 12 crew was still in quarantine at the time of the Houston dinner.
The Apollo program continued. Omega made additional watches numbered 1001 to 1008 for the last eight Apollo astronauts. Harrison Schmitt refused the 1008. The 1007 awarded to Ron Evans after his Apollo 17 flight of 1972 was sold for $ 297K in the same 2023 sale as above, lot 9003.
