Aldrin's 'space jacket' sold for $2.8M
The US astronaut Buzz Aldrin's 'space jacket' that went to the moon has been sold at an auction in New York for $2.8 million.
Buzz Aldrin wore the white jacket emblazoned with the American flag and NASA logo on the Apollo 11 mission to the moon.
The space jacket was one of 69 items that 92-year-old Buzz Aldrin decided to sell, the BBC says. It was sold by auction house Sothby. .Aldrin's jacket is the highest price of all American space equipment sold at auction so far.
Former astronaut Aldrin went to the moon in 1969. Of the three astronauts who went to the moon on the Apollo 11 mission, Aldrin is the only one alive. .Aldrin wore the jacket for most of that six-day spacewalk. Only when he landed on the surface of the moon did he change into a pressure suit.
650 million people around the world watched on television the scene of the first landing of three American astronauts on the moon by the Apollo 11 mission .After spending 21 hours on the lunar surface, Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong returned to Apollo 11 and donned their space jackets again. .In a note accompanying the auctioned space jacket, Buzz Aldrin described it as 'much more comfortable'.
Known as BETA, this white jacket made of flame retardant fabric was the first sold garment worn by the Chandrayaan space mission in 1969.According to Sathbi, within 10 minutes of auctioning the jacket, an unidentified person bought it over the phone. Several items from astronaut Aldrin's personal collection sold for a total of $8.2 million. .However, when the auction was held, it was not informed.
