Moondust from the Sea of Tranquility recovered from the camera magazine used by Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to photograph the first manned lunar exploration. This special edition (1/1) display is unique as it consists of one 10 x 1 mm swatch of moondust affixed to a larger slip, protected behind Mylar, and affixed to a color satin-finish 8 x 10 presentation photo showing the American flag planted by the Apollo 11 astronauts on the lunar surface. Accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Spaceflori.com providing the history and provenance of the swatch. Letter reads, in part: “I acquired the original source artifact-a poster board with an Apollo 11 moondust swatch attached-from the Superior Space Auction Fall 2001…The history of the original source poster board is as follows. It was given to Mr. Terry Slezak, a NASA photographer from JSC who, in the course of his duties became the first man to touch moon dust with his bare hands. One of Mr. Slezak’s jobs for NASA was to take the cameras from the astronauts after their flights, unload, and clean them…There were no problems with the Apollo 11 film magazines until he came to Magazine ‘S.’ When he opened Magazine ‘S’ he suddenly found his hands covered in moon dust. Unbeknownst to him, the camera had apparently been dropped on the surface of the moon!…Mr. Slezak was immediately quarantined as well and placed in the same quarantine trailer with the Apollo 11 astronauts.” Also accompanied by the original NASA color glossy 10 x 8 photo used by Spaceflori to produce ‘The Dust’ presentations, signed later in silver ink “We came in peace for all mankind’ Buzz Aldrin, Apollo XI LMP.” An extremely rare chance to own actual dust from the surface of the moon, recovered from the most famous of all the Apollo missions. RRAuction COA.
