NASA Will Auction Artifacts from Apollo 12 Mission in New York City

The Apollo 12 mission was launched on November 14, 1969 with three crewmembers to complete a number of objectives. Tomorrow, NASA plans to auction off artifacts from the fourth lunar mission of the Apollo program.

Charles Conrad Jr., Alan L. Bean, and Richard F. Gordon Jr. were responsible for deploying the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ASLEP) to gather specific data over a period of time and they were also instructed to retrieve portions of the Surveyor III spacecraft that landed on the moon almost two years earlier. 

NASA will auction off valuable artifacts from the famous mission tomorrow in New York City. No lunar missions have been scheduled since 1972, so space history buffs will most likely flock to this auctioning event. Cassandra Hatton, a space history specialist at Bonhams (a privately owned British auction house in New York) told ABC News about the estimated worth and novelty of the artifacts.

"The sale is significant because we have items that came directly from astronauts, items that they carried into lunar orbit with them, items that went to the lunar surface and items that have lunar dust on them," she said, according to ABC News.

These items include spacesuits, a dust-covered strap, gloves, and other flight equipment from the Apollo 12 mission. Items from the other Apollo 11 and Apollo 15 missions will also be auctioned, including Buzz Aldrin's lunar surface checklist sheet as well as James Irwin's motion picture sight ring used in the Apollo 15 mission.

The dust-covered strap from the Apollo 12 mission is estimated at $25,000 to $35,000, Aldrin's lunar checklist at $35,000 to $40,000, and Irwin's sight ring at $20,000 to $30,000. The Bonhams auction house is anticipating a promising turnout for the myriad artifacts that will be featured in this auction, which can be found here.

Other items include those from the Mercury program that lasted between 1959-1969, as well as Soviet-era Strizh cosmonaut spacesuits made in the 1980s. To read more about the space auction at Bonhams, visit the Bonhams website.