Astronaut Buzz Aldrin's Apollo 11 flight jacket fetches $2.8 million

[July 27, 2022]  (Reuters) - Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin's flight jacket, which he wore on the historic mission to the moon in 1969, was sold for about $2.8 million in New York, auction house Sotheby's said. 

A general view of Buzz Aldrin's flown inflight coverall jacket, worn by him on his mission to the Moon and back during Apollo 11, that was sold for $2,772,500 at Sotheby's, in New York City, U.S. July 21, 2022 in this screengrab from a video. Reuters TV via REUTERS

The jacket front displays NASA's logo and the Apollo 11 mission emblem, which is slightly below Aldrin's name tag.

It also has the United States' flag on its left shoulder and is made of Beta cloth, a fireproof cloth that was incorporated into NASA space suits after three Apollo 1 astronauts died in a flash fire aboard their spacecraft during a ground test in 1967.

After the jacket, the second highest grossing item at Tuesday's auction was the summary flight plan of the Apollo 11 mission. It was sold for $819,000, exceeding estimates of $100,000-$150,000.

Neil Armstrong and Aldrin were the first humans to walk on the moon. Aldrin, who is now 92, is the only surviving member of the mission's three-man crew.

(Reporting by Rachna Dhanrajani in Bengaluru; Editing by Kim Coghill)

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