The book used by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to navigate the lunar module Eagle onto the surface of the moon in July 1969 is set to sell – for £7M.
The Lunar Module Timeline Book which travelled with Apollo 11 contains nearly 150 handwritten annotations by the astronauts = and possible traces of moondust.
The book also contains the first human writing on another world — coordinates written by Aldrin after the Eagle landed on the lunar surface.
The historic item, to be auctioned by Christie’s in New York today (Thurs), has a pre-sale estimate of between £5.5million and £7million.
The auction, titled One Giant Leap: Celebrating Space Exploration 50 Years After Apollo 11, which includes nearly 200 artifacts from NASA missions of the Sixties.
Also included are items from the Gemini space program from 1961 to 1966.
A large United States flag flown aboard Apollo 10, which has an estimate of between £20,000 and £25,000, will also go under the hammer.
A camera lens and dust brush used on the lunar surface during the Apollo 14 mission is up for auction, with an estimate of between £100,000 and £150,000.
Another lot is a landscape planning chart from May 1971 which has an estimate of between £30,000 and £50,000.
The chart is inscribed with mission details by a member of every Apollo landing crew.
Christina Geiger, head of books and manuscripts at Christie’s said: “It’s an absolute thrill to offer the chance for bidders to take home a piece of space exploration history, whether it is an object that has been to the moon and back or the charts used to navigate there.
“These objects stand as unique witnesses to the early years of space exploration and to one of the most glorious adventures in human history.”
