The manual that sat between Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong during the Apollo 11 moon landing is up for auction, and it could go for as much as $9 million.
According to a news release from Christie's, the book details the entire historic voyage, including inspection, undocking, the moon landing and more.
"The book was flown aboard the Eagle and was located precisely between Commander Armstrong and Lunar Module Pilot Aldrin as they made the historic landing, amidst alarms ringing and with only about 25 seconds of fuel remaining at landing," the news release said. It includes the Eagle's coordinates in the Sea of Tranquility that were written by Aldrin within moments of landing, being the first writing by a human being on another celestial body. Additionally, there are nearly 150 completion checkmarks and other annotations and made in real-time by Aldrin and Armstrong."
Before it went up for auction. GeekWire reported that Apollo 11 Lunar Module Timeline Book was initially on display for one day only at Living Computers: Museum + Labs in Seattle. From there, it made another one-day preview stop Pace Gallery in Palo Alto, California, before going to Christie's auction house in New York. It will be shown at the auction house from July 11 to 17.
"An estimated 600 million people around the world watched the landing on television. However, during Eagle's voyage itself, Armstrong and Aldrin were profoundly alone," Christina Geiger, Head of Books & Manuscripts at Christie's said in a statement. "There is no video recording of them and only imperfect audio recording. This book is a unique witness to the first manned lunar landing, arguably the most glorious adventure of all time. We are overjoyed to be given the opportunity to offer this global treasure at auction."
To get more information on the manual, including a read through of what is contained in the book, visit Christies.com.
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