Buzz Aldrin on the Moon. The original of this iconic image sold at an auction in Copenhagen on March … [+]
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The original image of Buzz Aldrin’s iconic Moon “selfie” sold at an auction in Denmark on March 9 for 52,000 Danish crowns ($7,703), according to CNN. The photograph was one of over 70 original NASA images put up for sale with a total estimated value of 1.5 million Danish crowns ($221,500.35).
The images were put up for auction by Bruun Rasmussen Auctioneers. According to the auction house, 73 out of 74 of the original NASA photographs sold.
“Knowing that these are the original photographs taken by the astronauts during the biggest missions of their lives presents a great thrill in this digital age,” Bruun Rasmussen’s head of department and specialist Lærke Bøgh said in a press release on the auction.
The NASA photographs came from a private collection of a foreign seller, whose identity has remained anonymous. Many of the images in the collection have never been seen widely by the public while a few appeared on the covers of LIFE and National Geographic in 1969. The Buzz Aldrin photograph appeared on the cover of both publications.
The image of Aldrin in full astronaut suit was taken by Neil Armstrong, who can be viewed in Aldrin’s visor, during the first Moon landing in July, 1969. Armstrong took the image with a Hasselblad camera.
A view of the Earth beyond the lunar horizon, taken from the Apollo 8 spacecraft while in orbit … [+]
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“Earthrise”, taken by astronaut William Anders while orbiting the Moon during the Apollo 8 mission in 1968, brought in the most money, selling for 88,400 crowns ($13,095).
All of the images in the collection were taken between the Apollo 8 and Apollo 17 missions.
This year marks the 60th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s famous speech at Rice University on the pursuit of sending a person to the Moon. This year is also the 50th anniversary of the last time a person set foot on the Moon, during the Apollo 17 mission in December of 1972.
