Buzz Aldrin: American Icon

Buzz Aldrin: American Icon

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 23. LUNAR SURFACE FLOWN Apollo 11 Lunar Module Water Dispenser/Fire Extinguisher.

Property from the Buzz Aldrin Family Trust

[Apollo 11]

LUNAR SURFACE FLOWN Apollo 11 Lunar Module Water Dispenser/Fire Extinguisher

Auction Closed

July 26, 06:15 PM GMT

Estimate

12,000 - 18,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

[APOLLO 11]


LUNAR SURFACE FLOWN Lunar Module Water Dispenser/Fire Extinguishing Assembly, manufactured by Whirlpool Corp, ca. 1969.


Whirlpool water dispenser, 7.5 by 6 inches, stainless steel, with finished aluminum trigger, and rigid plastic button. Part number 14-0131, serial number 4153. Trigger area with black push button engraved "PUSH" above, and "TO LOCK" below. Bottom of gun fitted with steel hose connector labeled and steel vane unit used for spray nozzle, vane unit fitted with lockable pressure valve with red handle. This lot will be accompanied by a Typed Letter Signed from BUZZ ALDRIN.


Inscribed, "Flown to the lunar surface on Apollo XI," and SIGNED BY "BUZZ ALDRIN"


*This lot will be accompanied by a MIRAImage™ NFT, a unique digital identifier linked to its physical object using novel microscopic 3D scanning technology and advanced mathematical techniques that extract the object's identifying “DNA.” The NFT will be minted by MIRA to the Ethereum blockchain, forever recording these micron-level details, along with the the object's associated metadata and provenance information for future proof of authenticity.

Directly from the Personal Collection of Apollo 11 Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin

THE WATER DISPENSER/FIRE EXTINGUISHER ASSEMBLY USED BY ALDRIN & ARMSTRONG ON THE MOON


Designed to dispense measured amounts of hot or cold water for the purpose of rehydrating the astronauts meals, for drinking, or for distinguishing fires, this was an crucial piece of hardware that was used by both Aldrin and Armstrong throughout their stay on the Lunar surface.


BUZZ ALDRIN'S provenance letter reads: "On July 16th, 1969, Neil Armstrong, Mike Collins, and I lifted off from Pad 39A at the John F. Kennedy Space Center on our journey to perform humankind's first landing on the Moon at the Sea of Tranquility.


Whirlpool Corporation designed and built this water gun which could deliver with each squeeze of the handle one ounce of cold water from a large water tank in the descent stage of Eagle.


This water gun was used by me and Neil during our time in Eagle while on the lunar surface. The water gun had several uses inside the Lunar Module (LM). It was our drinking device. We could squirt water directly into our mouths. It provided water for our food preparation by allowing us to squeeze water into the freeze-dried food pouches we would eat from during our flight. We even used the water gun to fill the water pouches in our suits too. In the event of a fire, the gun was also designed with a valve that allowed it to be used as a fire extinguisher. It was a very useful and valuable tool on the Moon. 


This water gun is one of the few objects used on a lunar mission and is also a rare example of an astronaut flight-certified object used during the first landing on the Moon."


REFERENCES:

NASA. Apollo 11 Stowage List. Mission AS 506 CM 107/LM-5. Houston, Texas: Manned Spacecraft Center, July 15, 1969, pp. 40 & 61; Apollo 11 Post Flight Report on Suits, PLSS , p. 6 (listing both the part and serial numbers of the present Water Dispenser)


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