This week , Bonhams hosted an vendue of historic space itemsin Manhattan . TheSpace History Salefeatured troves of object and document , both American and Soviet , go out back to the heyday of the blank race . And Gizmodo got the chance to take a peek .
As with thedinosaur ivory auction we attended at Bonhams back in November , the place account auction ’s attendees seemed to be mostly witness — the majority of bids come in via internet or phone . Those who did wish in person mostly fit a sealed stamp : sometime , gray - haired men wear tucked - in shirt and comfortable shoes . Folks who , you could envisage , were wide - eyed kids back when most of these artifacts were on dynamic responsibility .
Apollo 11 lunar trajectory chart , showing the synodic month ’s orbital path around the Earth and the space vehicle ’s flight profile , signed by Buzz Aldrin . Sold for $ 2,500 .
Broadly , the items up for auction bridge fell in two categories . The first was what I ’d nickname functional memorabilia : prescribed documents , vade mecum , photos , and mementos from various blank missions , most bearing inscriptions by the astronauts involved .
Many of these document journey to out blank space , let in the auction ’s highest - price particular : an Apollo 11 lunar surface checklist with notes written by Buzz Aldrinon the open of the Sun Myung Moon , which sell for nearly $ 70,000 ( and which I was alas ineffectual to shoot before the auction set out ) .
Apollo 14 last flight program , signed by astronaut Edgar Mitchell . sell for $ 750 .
Closeup of an Apollo 11 chart establish the starship ’s launching and orbital path after facelift - off , with an inscription by Buzz Aldrin . This three - chart item sell for $ 2,000 .
There ’s seemingly a superfluity of such memorabilia floating around ( about 300 token in this auction alone ) , much of which originated with the families of the astronauts who flew the mission .
At first , this struck me as a little morbid , as I imagined family soak off long - darling artifact of their paladin astronaut ’s commission . But even back in the glory day of the space race , astronauts and NASA itself bothhad an center for merchandising .
Viewed through this lens , every signed exposure or scrawl handbook was a foresighted - term investment of sorts .
A sterling silver commemorating medallion , one of 127 carry to the lunar month during the Apollo 15 deputation . NASA in the beginning design to send 304 of the medallions to the moon , but a spelling error on 177 of the medallions led to them not being flown . dictation did n’t reach reserve , so this item remain unsold .
Two U.S. flags gestate by astronaut James Irwin to the open of the moon during 1971 ’s Apollo 15 mission . item sold for$10,625 ( left)and$10,000 ( right ) .
On the right , a Snoopy spaceman toy signed by Apollo X astronaut Gene Cernan . NASA adopted Snoopy as its mascot to accent flight safety and quality control for the Manned Flight Awareness Program , though ironically the toys were made in China . Sold for $ 1,625 .
The other spacious class of blank space offering was what I ’d call “ salvage parts ” : a seemingly random handful of equipment wrest from spacecraft and ferret out aside after the missionary post had ended .
disembody from their birthplace , these item-by-item mechanical factor would have seemed a piddling out of place in a Manhattan auction menage where six - trope fine art regularly crosses the stoppage . I briefly entertained the phantasy that a handful of craze millionaires were bidding against each other for the last crucial component needed for a secret starship project .
Docking control control panel from the MIR blank space post . Sold for $ 9,375 .
Top : Ascent stage rear reinforcement truss from the Lunar Module , unsold . Bottom : Apollo Lunar Module secondary landing peg swagger , sold for $ 3,500 .
But each item that went up for dictation brought with it a narrative , and even the most mundane - look part became a historical artifact as its provenance was explained .
Takethe handrails from the Lunar Module ’s stepladder : they look like they occur off your neighbor ’s pool article of furniture , but I vouch nobody ’s clamouring to dropmore than $ 3,000on the sofa chairperson from next doorway .
Motion picture band sight , used with the Maurer Data Acquisition Camera during the Apollo 15 deputation .
The most striking artifact on sale had to be the spacesuits . On showing in Bonham ’s pavement - level window on a busy Manhattan corner , they attracted stare and selfies from the gang walk by . It was easy to watch the starship portion and paper documents with a sense of insularity — the cast - off detritus of a bygone race between two government monolith — but looking at the spacesuits pull down that aloofness . They put the accomplishment of the distance wash on a tangibly human scale leaf . citizenry leave our planet wearing suit like this , I murmur to myself . They see shockingly flimsy for the project .
The silver spacesuit shown in Bonhams ’ window show , from the first manned U.S. Mercury missions to outer space , deal for $ 43,750 , bring the most intense bidding action of the twenty-four hours .
My favorite point of the Clarence Shepard Day Jr. , though , were much smaller : a pair of freeze - dried boozing containers from the Space Shuttle era . One was for coffee bean , one for tea leaf .
The pair sold for $ 187 , which , compared to most of the other point on sale , was a proportional bargain . Though it ’s plausibly the most anyone has paid for an 8 oz . coffee , even in this fancy Manhattan region .
Special thanks toBonhamsfor inviting us to the Space History Auction . you’re able to findthe complete catalogue of items here .
All images byRobert Sorokanich
NASASpacespace historySpace bird
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