NASA A7-L Apollo Suit, ca. 1969
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GUEST:
Well, this is, um... I believe it's called an A7-L...
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
...Apollo suit, the model for all the Apollo mi, missions...
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
...and even for later space suits, as well. I.L.C., the makers of these space suits...
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
...um, they were in the same town as I was.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
And they had a lot of material they just didn't need anymore.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
But they did need money.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
So, they had a parking-lot sale. And, uh, lo and behold, this was there for $100, and we got it.
APPRAISER:
Well, so, International Latex Corporation...
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
...was a, uh, subsidiary of Playtex. You know, the women's undergarment company?
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
And in 1962, they got the contract to develop...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...the space suits for NASA. But this isn't the actual entire space suit. The space suit is made up of several layers. This is the outer layer and the most iconic layer. If you look inside...
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
...you can see everything they used to construct this suit.
GUEST:
I bought it just because I love the space program.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
And I was also an earth-science teacher.
APPRAISER:
Hm.
GUEST:
So, I would take this to school whenever we were studying space. Then, as I got closer to retirement, I started going to these Super Science Days for elementary-school kids.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
This collar would be looped over the heads of the children.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
GUEST:
And we'd take Polaroid shots of them. So there should be a lot of young people out there that, uh, have these old, faded Polaroids of that suit and their, their heads sticking through it.
APPRAISER:
I mean, I could only imagine, as a little kid, getting the opportunity to wear...
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
...an authentic NASA space suit. The nice thing about this is, it is legally bought and legally sold. There's no question of ownership. We would put an auction estimate of $15,000 to $20,000 on this.
GUEST:
(inhales sharply): Oh, my-- goodness. $15,000 to $20,000.
APPRAISER:
Yeah.
GUEST:
Well, I didn't buy it for that, but... (laughing)
APPRAISER:
No. (laughing)
GUEST:
That's a lot.
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