Lot 783
Own a Piece of the Moon: Lunar Meteorite End Cut Plus Flown Apollo 11 Kapton Foil. The only way to legally own a piece of the moon is to acquire a rare piece of a lunar meteorite. This lot contains a 1.042 gram 18 x 12 mm polished end cut of Lunar meteorite Northeast Africa 001. The end cut has the cut side polished and the back side is untouched showing the surface of the meteorite. This lunar meteorite is an anorthositic regolith breccia from the Lunar highlands that was blown off of the moon by a meteorite impact and was found in April 2002 in northern Sudan near the Libya/Egypt/ Sudan border. Only a single meteorite weighing 262 grams (just over ½ pound) was found. The polished section has a number of white and light gray mineral clasts embedded in a dark gray microcrystalline impact melt matrix. The meteorite is also historical as being the very first meteorite to be authenticated from Northeastern Africa.
Also, included in a 12 x 8" Riker mount is a one inch square gold flown Apollo 11 Kapton foil which came from the Apollo 11 Command Module, Columbia after its splash down in the Pacific ocean from its historic first lunar landing. This Kapton foil provided thermal protection for the Command Module as it passed through the earth's atmosphere on the return flight from the moon. The foil is made from gold on one side and silver on the other and has been mounted in an acrylic square for protection. This foil comes with a signed document that it was given to retired NASA engineer W.R. Whipley in Production Control in 1969. Apollo 11 was the most famous NASA mission of all time with Neil Armstrong being the first man to walk on the moon. Besides the authentification card for the Moon meteorite and signed certificate for the Kapton foil, there is a color photograph of the Command Module showing the gold Kapton foil covering its outer surface. Estimate Value $2,200 - UP
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