Mission-used artifacts from Apollo 12 astronaut Alan Bean's journey to the Moon, including a hammer that touched the lunar surface and concealed Playboy photographs, sold for a combined total exceeding $1.2 million at a recent auction. The sale, conducted by Dallas-based Heritage Auctions, featured a selection of Bean's personal and mission-related items.
Bean, who was the fourth person to walk on the Moon during the 1969 Apollo 12 mission, carried a cuff-mounted checklist. This checklist contained detailed mission instructions along with secret Playboy magazine images and hand-drawn cartoons that fellow astronauts had inserted before launch. These pictures, taken to the Moon, sold for $400,000.
The highest-grossing item in the auction was Bean's geological hammer, which he used on the lunar surface on November 19, 1969. The hammer was instrumental in freeing a fuel cask during the deployment of an experiments package. It sold for $812,500.
"The incredible result for this hammer is a clear reflection of the interest in items from lunar missions, but the demand for items that actually made it to the surface of the Moon is exponentially greater," said Brad Palmer, director of space exploration at Heritage Auctions. Bean himself had previously stated, "Don't ever come to the Moon without a hammer."
The total sale of Bean's items amounted to $3.1 million. Bean was part of the second U.S. mission to land on the Moon, following in the footsteps of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin from the Apollo 11 mission.