A manual used by flight director Gene Kranz during the Apollo 11 mission, the NASA mission that first put humans on the moon, recently sold at auction for $91,909.
The manual was Kranz's guide for coordinating the mission, as well as all activities associated with it, including the main mission goal of putting man on the surface of the moon for the first time.
As history tells us, that mission was successful, not just for astronauts stepping onto the moon's surface for the first time, but also for those at NASA headquarters, such as Kranz, who worked hard to make the mission happen.
"What makes this manual so spectacular is that it was used during the descent stage of the lunar module onto the surface of the moon- Kranz using this manual when Armstrong landed Eagle," says Bobby Livingston, Exec VP at RR Auction, the company that handled the sell of the manual.
Apollo 11 was the mission that first landed humans on the moon. Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped onto the lunar surface, the first humans ever to do so, on July 21, 1969. The two collected material from the moon's surface before returning to Earth. The event was broadcast live internationally and is known for Armstrong's famous words, "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."
Gene Kranz served as a flight director to Apollo 11 and is best known for his part in helping NASA's mission control save the crew of Apollo 13. He acted as a flight director for missions through Apollo 17 and became deputy director of NASA Mission Operations in 1974, followed by becoming director in 1983. He retired in 1994 after the STS-61 spaceflight missiot that repaired the Hubble Space Telescope was completed. Kranz, known widely as a space hero, is a subject of many movies and books.
Other items up for auction included a Viking instrument, an extremely rare American flag carried into lunar orbit aboard the Apollo 10 mission, a rare postal cover from the Apollo 15 mission and a manifest from the Apollo 17 mission.
The auction for space and aviation memorabilia ended this month. For a full list of items sold, visit the auction website.
