Buzz Aldrin's Jacket Worn on Apollo 11 Just Sold For Nearly $3 Million

NASA Buzz Aldrin on board Apollo 11

Buzz Aldrin once said, "No dream is too high for those with their eye in the sky" — and now that can also be said for the selling price of his legendary jacket that just fetched nearly $3 million at auction.

Aldrin's jacket sold at Sotheby's in New York on Tuesday for a whopping $2,772,500 — well above the estimated price of $2 million — was the exact one the iconic astronaut wore during Apollo 11, the mission that saw humans walk on the moon for the first time. (The 53rd anniversary of the lunar landing was July 20)

"Today's result is a testament to the legendary career of Buzz Aldrin and his lifelong dedication to the exploration and understanding of the universe," Cassandra Hatton, Sotheby's Global Head of Science & Popular Culture shared in a statement to Travel + Leisure. "Today's record-breaking outcome proves the ongoing and everlasting significance of the Apollo 11 Mission, some 53 years since man first walked on the Moon."

Courtesy of Sotheby’s

Although it's not the first time the former astronaut, 92, has auctioned off some of his personal belongings from the Gemini and Apollo eras, this sale had some other particularly notable items.

The infamous "Go Army, Beat Navy" banner that Aldrin brought with him on a spacewalk during the Gemini XII mission, alluding to the long-running football rivalry between the two military academies, also went up for sale. Aldrin, of course, hailed from the army as a graduate of West Point in New York. The banner sold for $27,720 at auction.

Another notable item from the sale was Aldrin's original flight plan from the Apollo 11 Mission from launch to splashdown. The flight plan sold for $819,000, over five times the initial estimate.

Courtesy of Sotheby’s Clockwise from left: Buzz Aldrin's Go Army Beat Navy Flag, Apollo 11 LM Rendezvous Charts and Pen and Switch

The sale also included the famous the felt-tip pen that might've saved Apollo 11. When a broken circuit breaker threatened the crew's safe return to Earth, Aldrin used the tip of this pen to fix it. It, like Aldrin's jacket, has a high sale estimate of $2 million and has yet to be sold.

Aldrin's contributions to Sotheby's are part of the auction house's sales kicked off the auction house's Geek Week, five live auctions involving items related to science. Other sales include Natural history, meteorites, and planet specimens from the moon, mars, and vesta.