Alan Bean, 83, was a pilot for NASA’s Apollo 12 mission — the second to put a man on the moon in 1969 — but he was also certainly the first astronaut with the goal “to eat spaghetti on the moon.”
As part of its annual Space History sale, Madison Avenue auction house Bonhams is offering items from Bean’s mission, including the uneaten meal he kept as a souvenir — pouches of dehydrated peaches, grapefruit and spaghetti, with two stainless steel spoons.
Bean cheerfully explains in a letter that comes with the lot, “I wanted to be the first human to eat spaghetti on the moon as it was and is my favorite food.”
Other items for sale include his 13-page checklist from the epic trip and equipment soiled with lunar dust worn on the moon.