Buzz Aldrin Space Note for Auction
Published September 20th, 2007
A handwritten card containing a Bible verse that Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin used during a lunar Holy Communion service is up for sale on Thursday at a space-related auction.
Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon, read the verse privately during the 1969 mission while using a communion kit furnished by his church. Heritage Auction Galleries calls the moment the “First Religious Sacrament Performed on Another Heavenly Body.”
Aldrin wanted to broadcast the verse back to Earth, but a lawsuit by an atheist halted his plans.
The card, expected to bring at least $50,000, is one of 43 moon-trip items consigned to the auction house by Aldrin, including his personal slide rule, a Texas state flag and a section of his Apollo 11 descent monitoring chart.
Howard C. Weinberger, senior space consultant for Dallas-based Heritage, said the card will appeal to private collectors, historical and religious institutions.
“Anything that was on the surface of the moon is deemed exceptionally rare,” Weinberger said. “For the six missions that landed on the moon, if you could gather the few items taken to the surface you could fill a very small piece of carry-on luggage.”
Aldrin, 77, wrote about the religious moment in his 1973 book, “Return to Earth.”
“With them and a small chalice from the kit, I took communion on the moon, reading to myself from a small card I carried on which I had written the portion of the Book of John used in the traditional communion ceremony,” Aldrin wrote.
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