Playboy images that traveled to the Moon are sold for more than R$2 million at auction
A set of photos from Playboy magazine, taken on a space mission to the Moon, was auctioned for 400 thousand dollars, a value equivalent to around 2 million reais. The sale took place through Heritage Auctions and included, in addition to the images, a space hammer, sold for an impressive 812,500 dollars (approximately 4.1 million reais). These items belonged to Alan L. Bean, an Apollo 12 astronaut who became the fourth person to walk on the lunar surface in 1969, during the second American exploration of the natural satellite.
The irreverent material was hidden in Bean’s personal spacesuit checklist, which contained detailed instructions for mission activities. Secret images from Playboy magazine and hand-drawn drawings were inserted without official knowledge by other astronauts before launch. At that time, the men’s publication, founded in 1953, was an icon of American popular culture, symbolizing a period of social change.
On one of the nude model photographs was a unique and suggestive note: “Don’t forget—describe the bulges.”
The space hammer, meanwhile, recorded its own historic moment on November 19, 1969. Alan Bean employed the tool to free a fuel canister while installing a series of experiments on the lunar surface.
Astronaut Alan Bean left a remarkable phrase about the importance of the object: “Never come to the Moon without a hammer”, he said.
