The space memorabilia collectors' markets are set to hot up, this month.
As we previously reported, Heritage Auction Galleries will be auctioning an Apollo 11 Silver Robbins Medallion, flown to the Moon aboard mankind's first-ever successful lunar landing.
Meanwhile, Bonhams' sequel to its successful 2009 Space Sale will be timed to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Apollo 13.
Naturally, a number of memorabilia items from the near-disastrous Apollo 13 mission will feature; among them the critical flight notes and updates used by crewmen James Lovell and Fred Haise.
The single sheet printed recto and verso - measuring 8 by 5½ inches - includes 26 mission notes in red or black ink written by Lovell and Haise.
 The critical Apollo 13 checklist, priced $20,000-30,000 |
The lot will sell with a letter by Haise verifying its provenance.
"We had experienced an extremely busy time after the explosion - an LM engine burn to put us back on a path home, then our pass behind the Moon, and finally another LM engine burn of over 4 minutes to get us back to earth on April 17," he writes.
"At about [the] 79 hour point of our flight [roughly 15 hours after the oxygen tank exploded], Mission Control radioed the changes I logged under the EMERGENCY POWER DOWN section of page PWR-5..."
It ends: "Carried and used during the flight of Apollo 13. Fred Haise, Apollo 13 LMP [Lunar Module Pilot]."
This crucial record of the brave Apollo 13 crew's ordeal - today remembered as a successful failure, and for the astronauts' bravery in the face of disaster - unsurprisingly carries a large pre-sale estimate.
The checklist will appear in Bonhams' New Sale on April 13 priced $20,000-30,000.
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Image: Bonhams
