ED DANAHUE

Apollo 8 crew (from left) Frank Borman, William Anders, and James Lovell.

NEW YORK (AP) — Buzz Aldrin’s jacket worn on his historic first
mission to the moon’s surface in 1969 has been auctioned off to
a bidder for nearly $2.8 million.

The $2,772,500 paid for the Apollo 11 Inflight Coverall Jacket is
the highest for any American space-flown artifact sold at auction, according to Sotheby’s, which handled the sale. The unidentified
winning bidder, who participated by phone, outlasted several
others in a bidding that spanned almost 10 minutes.

Buzz Aldrin ( Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr.) turned 92 in January.

At 9:32 a.m. EDT, Apollo 11, the first U.S. lunar landing mission,
was launched on a historic journey to the surface of the moon.

After traveling 240,000 miles in 76 hours, Apollo 11 entered into
a lunar orbit on July 19.

From left: Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, the Apollo 11 crew.

A launch pad fire during Apollo program tests at Cape Canaveral,
Florida, killed astronauts Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Edward H. White
II, and Roger B. Chaffee. An investigation indicated that a faulty
electrical wire inside the Apollo 1 command module was the
probable cause of the fire. The astronauts, the first Americans
to die in a spacecraft, had been participating in a simulation of
the Apollo 1 launch scheduled for the following month.

Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the moon, returned safely to
Earth after an historic six-day journey.

On December 21, Apollo 8 was launched by a three-stage Saturn 5
rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, with astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell, Jr., and William Anders aboard. On Christmas Eve,
the astronauts entered into orbit around the moon, the first manned 
spacecraft ever to do so. During Apollo 8‘s 10 lunar orbits, television images were sent back home and spectacular photos were taken of
the Earth and the moon from the spacecraft. In addition to being the
first human beings to view firsthand their home world in its entirety,
the three astronauts were also the first to see the far side of the
moon. On Christmas morning, Apollo 8 left its lunar orbit and
began its journey back to Earth, landing safely in the Pacific
Ocean.  

Apollo 8 crew members from left to right: James A. Lovell Jr., William A. Anders, and Frank Borman.