More than 70 original NASA images were auctioned in Copenhagen on Wednesday for nearly $172,000, including a famous shot of Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin's moonwalk taken by Neil Armstrong.
The photograph of Aldrin in a full astronaut suit and Armstrong, who took the photograph and can be glimpsed in the reflection on Aldrin's visor, featured on the cover of National Geographic and Life magazines in 1969. The Aldrin image fetched 5,373 euros ($5,938).
A total of 74 NASA photographs were put up for sale, including 26 taken on the moon during the Apollo missions in the 1960s and 1970s.
"We sold 73 of the 74 photos," the Bruun Rasmussen auction house told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"What makes this collection unique is the size of the collection and the fact that you don't see this on the global art market every day," Bruun Rasmussen's director of sales and valuation, Kasper Nielsen, told Reuters in an interview ahead of the auction.
The auction house said the seller was a foreigner with relations to Denmark but did not reveal the identity of either the seller or the buyers.
The most valuable item, the first shot of an "Earthrise" photographed by U.S. astronaut William Anders while orbiting the moon in December 1968 on Apollo 8, sold for 11,800 euros.
The last time man set foot on the moon was in 1972 during the Apollo 17 mission, but NASA is planning to send astronauts again in 2025-2026.
