Original video footage of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s first steps on the Moon has sold at auction for $1.8 million.
The video was made by NASA itself on 20th July 1969 and had only been viewed three times.
Auction house Sotheby’s had said it could sell for up to $2 million.
The three rolls of film were in a pile of a total of 1,150 bought by engineer Gary George at auction by NASA in 1976 for $217.77. At the time neither NASA nor George were aware the tapes were included in the sale.
The footage includes Armstrong’s infamous word as he stood on the lunar surface for the first time, Buzz Aldrin bounding around in minimal lunar gravity, as well as their call with President Richard Nixon, the duo planting the American flag on the lunar surface, and collecting soil and rock samples.
