An emergency access decal recovered from the Apollo 11 command module has sold for $147,572 at RR Auction.
The sign is marked “RESCUE” and indicated the location of the emergency access hatch to the recovery team.
The sign was stripped from the Apollo command service module after landing
The consignor was a retired inspector and quality control engineer for North American Aviation (NAA), the company that produced the Apollo command service module.
He explained to the Antiques Roadshow how he came by the decal: "When the spacecraft would come back to Downey, we would strip them all down.
"And so this arrow... they were scraping all this stuff off and throwing it away in a big pile, so they just gave it to me."
A British flag flown on the Apollo 13 mission realised $11,500.
This Union Jack was flown on the Apollo 13 mission
While US flags are fairly common, this is the first example of an Apollo-flown British flag we’ve seen.
It has exceptional provenance, originating from the collection of Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell – who writes: "I hereby certify that this National Flag of Great Britain was on board the Apollo 13 spacecraft…
“This flag was from my personal collection of space artifacts and has been in my possession since the mission."
The lot is mounted on a certificate signed by all three members of the crew.
Buyers were clearly intrigued by this particular piece. It soared past an opening bid of $3,000.
We have an incredible piece of space memorabilia for sale.
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