Astronaut Buzz Aldrin's Apollo 11 flight jacket fetches $2.8 million

July 27 (Reuters) - Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin's flight jacket, which he wore on the historic mission to the moon in 1969, was sold for about $2.8 million in New York, auction house Sotheby's said.

The jacket front displays NASA's logo and the Apollo 11 mission emblem, which is slightly below Aldrin's name tag.

[1/2] A view of a detail of Buzz Aldrin's flown inflight coverall jacket, worn by him on his mission to the Moon and back during Apollo 11, that was sold for $2,772,500 at Sotheby's, in New York City, U.S. July 21, 2022 in this screengrab from a video. Reuters TV via REUTERS

It also has the United States' flag on its left shoulder and is made of Beta cloth, a fireproof cloth that was incorporated into NASA space suits after three Apollo 1 astronauts died in a flash fire aboard their spacecraft during a ground test in 1967.

After the jacket, the second highest grossing item at Tuesday's auction was the summary flight plan of the Apollo 11 mission. It was sold for $819,000, exceeding estimates of $100,000-$150,000.

Neil Armstrong and Aldrin were the first humans to walk on the moon. Aldrin, who is now 92, is the only surviving member of the mission's three-man crew.

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