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Christie's Space Auction: Buy Me to the Moon
By Andrew Chaikin
Staff Writer
posted: 06:11 pm ET
16 September 1999
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Christie_916Christie's is getting ready for its upcoming space auction Saturday. A NASA emblem and name tag, worn by moonwalker Jim Irwin during his Apollo 15 mission in 1971 and stained with lunar dust, is among the more than 300 items going on the block. The auction includes a variety of items that accompanied Apollo astronauts on their missions, including pages from their flight plans, small pieces of equipment, and beta-cloth patches. A variety of signed items -- from photos to training documents -- from space projects of the early 1960s through the mid-1970s are also being offered. One of the more unusual examples is a notebook used by astronaut Gus Grissom during his preparations as commander of the ill-fated Apollo 1 mission. Technical problems mentioned in the notes foreshadow the fire that killed Grissom and his crew during a pre-launch spacecraft test in 1967. This isn't the first time auctioneers have found treasure in the attics of astronauts, their families and friends. During the last several years, space auctions have been held by other firms, including Sotheby's and Superior Galleries. For Christie's, however, space is a new frontier. "It's still a very young market," says Christie's Richard Austin. "The sale is going to be a good gage of how serious the collectors are in this field." On Saturday, even the most serious collectors will find plenty to test their mettle. A bid of $80,000 puts you in the running for a 1911 handwritten manuscript by Russian space pioneer Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. And for $250,000, you might be able to cart home a space suit similar to the one worn by cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin during his Vostok 1 mission, complete with a mockup of the spacecraft's ejection seat. Decorating a living room around it, though, could be a bit of a challenge.
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