One of nine lots sold by Aldrin as part of a Space Exploration sale held by Swann of New York (15% buyer's premium) on April 12, this data card book of 11 loose leaves was described by Aldrin as a “critical flight document”, used on Eagle prior to landing and whilst on the lunar surface – several pages bore traces of lunar dust – as well as after lift-off and during the rendezvous with Michael Collins in the command module. Additionally inscribed by Aldrin to the inside cover, it sold for a low-estimate $200,000 (£127,390).
Items relating to that historic mission to the moon were understandably the most sought after and a photographic navigational chart of the moon’s surface used by Armstrong and Aldrin during lift-off, signed and inscribed to that effect by Aldrin, made $26,000 (£16,560), while a colour photograph of Aldrin on the moon, signed by Aldrin, Armstrong and Collins, sold at $34,000 (£21,655).
$200,000 for first (lunar module data) book on the moon
It hardly qualifies as a book, but the data card book in which Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin recorded critical values for input into the lunar module computer during the Apollo XI mission of 1969, autograph data that enabled them to make the first moon landing, certainly qualifies as an historical technical document.
