Collection bag from Apollo 11 moon mission to be sold at auction
IT is a simple, square white bag that travelled to the moon in 1969 on Apollo 11 and carried back to Earth the first sample of lunar material ever collected. That bag could fetch up to US$4 million when it goes on the auction block at Sotheby’s New York in July.
The bag – which contains remnants of moon dust and is labeled ‘Lunar sample return’ – is a collection pouch used by astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, during the Apollo 11 mission. The bag was used to hold rocks and dust from the lunar region known as the Sea of Tranquility.
Scheduled for July 20, the 48th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, the auction will be the first legal sale of such an artifact from the mission, Jim Hull, head of exhibits and artifacts at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa), said in a telephone interview.
While there are legal restrictions on sales of material from moon missions, including lunar rocks and dust, it is believed some items have been sold on the black market.
The bag wound up at Sotheby’s after a roundabout journey that included an attempt by Nasa to get it back from its current owner.
Apollo 11 blasted off on July 16, 1969, with three astronauts aboard. Four days later, Armstrong and astronaut Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin flew the spacecraft Eagle down to the moon’s surface. As part of the mission, the astronauts gathered lunar samples.
After nearly 22 hours on the moon, Armstrong and Aldrin returned to the lunar module, lifted off and rejoined Michael Collins in the Columbia spacecraft for the journey back to Earth. They landed on July 24 and received a hero’s welcome. — Reuters