Buzz Aldrin stars in Lunar Legacies' new space auction catalogue

Lunar Legacies has unveiled its entire catalogue for the upcoming Lunar Legacies Space Memorabilia Auction VII.

We told you last week that a number of items of Apollo mission-based memorabilia are up for grabs at the February 19 auction, but the Florida sale has plenty more than that to offer, including many pieces from Apollo's predecessors, Mercury and Gemini.

There will be 13 Mercury mission lots, including a flight operations manual for Mercury capsules 18 and 19 from 1960. The 120 page document, which is in excellent condition, comprises three sections: normal procedures, emergency procedures and troubleshooting.

The pick of the 47 Gemini mission lots is a rare and collectible Gemini 12 patch, bearing the names of its two astronauts, Lovell and Aldrin. Gemini 12 was the last manned spacecraft in the project. Aldrin went on to become the second man on the moon. Lovell was the commander of Apollo 13, which was forced to make an emergency return to Earth after rupturing its oxygen tanks. Such is the fame of these two astronauts that a fierce bidding war could well commence to obtain the three-inch patch.

Two famous names on one Gemini mission patch

Many items of spacecraft hardware will also be on sale, including a number flown on missions. These include a thermal blanket flown by Space Shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-34 in October 1989 and an insulator panel from Space Shuttle Challenger on its STS-41G mission in October 1984.

Space memorabilia is all the rage at the moment, with space flown items particularly popular. Last month a space flown Apollo 11 Silver Robbins medal achieved $33,000 at auction in the US.