Relics from two of the most significant achievements of the 20th century sold for $250,000 combined at Heritage's “Space Exploration Signature Auction” on Friday.
A fragment from the propeller of the Wright Brothers’ plane, flown during the first successful powered, controlled flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in 1903, and later carried to the moon on Apollo 11 in 1969, sold for $150,000.
Another piece from the fabric of the wing sold for $100,000.
Both items were originally given to astronaut Neil Armstrong by the Air Force Museum for the Apollo 11 mission and carried with him on the voyage in his “personal preference kit,” a small selection of items of personal significance which each astronaut was allowed to bring on the mission.
Certified and encapsulated by CAG, they each carry provenance tying them to Armstrong’s personal collection, much of which was first auctioned off in 2018 and 2019 by Heritage. During that first sale, similar relics sold for $275,000 (from the propeller) and $162,500 (from the wing).
This was the first time comparable examples have sold in five years, and the total population of such relics is unknown. Heritage has previously sold six pieces from the propeller and 16 from the wing fabric.
An Apollo 11-flown flag, also from the Armstrong collection, sold for $57,500.
A complete meal package from the personal collection of Dr. Paul Lachance, NASA's coordinator of food and nutrition, from the Gemini Program era sold for $3,750. The package includes 14 unopened items such as “Apricot Cubes,” “Grapefruit Drink” and “Bacon Squares.”
Another fragment from the Wright Brothers’ historic flight, originally removed by Orville Wright himself and given to aviation expert Lester Gardner and later damaged in shipping but salvaged into smaller pieces by CAG, sold for $20,000.
A rare signed Armstrong Type 1 Photo from 1960 standing next to a prototype Air Force X-15 sold for $3,000.
A piece of Soviet space history made its way across the auction block, as a Yuri Gagarin and Valery Bykovsky signed cover sold for $1,125. Gagarin, whose famous Vostok 1 flight made history by making him the first man in space, also signed a piece of cardboard that was later combined with a color photograph in a matted display and sold for $937.50.
A PSA-encapsulated group photo, featuring the Mercury Seven astronauts with signatures from the entire team of the first seven astronauts ever selected by NASA for the “Man in Space” project, sold for $10,312.50.
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct.