The USSR flag, which was on the moon, was sold at Sotheby's auction

The miniature flag of the USSR, which American astronaut Buzz Aldrin took on a flight to the Moon on the Apollo 11 spacecraft in July 1969, was sold at Sotheby's for $102.4 thousand. This was confirmed on July 16 by data on the official website of the auction house.

The total value of the lot significantly exceeded the preliminary estimates of experts. The canvas, measuring about 10 by 15 cm, was in Aldrin's personal kit aboard the Columbia command module.

According to Sotheby's, the astronaut included the Soviet symbol in his inventory as a diplomatic gesture and a sign that landing on the moon was an achievement of all mankind.

Hugs in space: how the USA and the USSR met in orbit

The Soyuz–Apollo flight took place 50 years ago

Earlier, on June 18, it was reported that a document signed by Joseph Stalin in 1944 was sold in the United States at the RR Auction. The lot was presented as a "document from the period of the Second World War on the protection of liberated Eastern Europe signed by Joseph Stalin" and sold for $13,764.