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| Now you can own a 'piece' of the moon |
| Rajesh S Kurup / Mumbai Apr 03, 2009, 00:45 IST |
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You may not be able to own the moon, but you can own a piece of it.
 A coffee table book, Moonfire that chronicles the entire journey of Apollo 11 and its occupants – astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins landing on the moon – will be auctioned in Mumbai next month.
However, the book will not come cheap — the base price would be no less than Rs 4 lakh.
Moonfire’s claim to fame is that there are only 20 copies available in the world, of which a single copy will be brought into India. Moreover, a certified piece of moon rock – weighing around 30 grams – will be provided in a decorative ornamental casket along with the book.
The astronauts had returned to earth with around 5 kg of moon rock, and the piece to be given away is an original one.
It has original and rare pictures of the mission, details and pictures of man’s first walk on the lunar surface, details of preparation and ground control.
The book is authored by journalist Norman Mailer, who incidentally, was the journalist hired by Life magazine in 1969 to cover the mission.
His three-part feature published by the magazine has been hailed one of the best journalistic pieces, while it was also the longest non-fictional article carried by the publication.
Man’s landing on the moon on July 20, 1969, is termed as the single most historic event of the 20th century; a mission that had an incurred around $24 billion.
“We plan to invite book-lovers and known patrons of art and literature including Anand Mahindra, Harsh Goenka, Parveez Damania and Vijay Mallya or their representatives for the auction. Moreover, we will inviting the who’s who of business, and art and culture,” Gangadharan Javahar director of Dolphin Publications told Business Standard.
Dolphin Publications, which is brining the one copy for the country through its subsidiary Indus – The Bookstore - will be showcasing book at an expo in Mumbai on Friday.
Around 20 countries across the world will get one copy each and a lunar rock would be given to these countries.
An interview given by Buzz Aldrin – who did a lunar walk along with Armstrong - an introduction by Pushcart Prize-winning novelist Colum McCann who revels Mailer's prose are other added factors.
The famous words of the crew, especially that of Armstrong like "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed," and "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" also find space in the book.
This special edition is illustrated with hundreds of the best photographs and maps from NASA, magazine archives and private collections. Photographs of Ralph Morse (nicknamed as eighth astronaut for his space pictures) are other novelties in the book.
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