New York (AP) — Buzz Aldrin’s jacket worn on his historic first mission to the moon’s surface in 1969 has been auctioned off to a bidder for nearly $2.8 million.

The $2,772,500 paid for the Apollo 11 Inflight Coverall Jacket is the highest for any American space-flown artifact sold at auction, according to Sotheby’s, which handled the sale. The unidentified winning bidder, who participated by phone, outlasted several others in a bidding that spanned almost 10 minutes.

A new company, led by a SpaceX founding member, aims to deliver the first commercial payload to the surface of Mars – using a fully reusable, entirely 3D printed launch vehicle, the Terran R.

Isro is currently working on several other missions as it looks to conduct its first human spaceflight launch with the Gaganyaan mission. (Photo: Isro)

Isro had in May this year successfully conducted a static fire test of the boosters that will power India’s maiden astronaut mission. While the four unnamed Indian Air Force officers continue to train for the mission, the ground qualification tests of launch vehicle propulsion stages have also been commenced and successfully progressing.

Being developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, the Gaganyaan crew module will be the first indigenous spacecraft to take Indian astronauts into space and return them safely to Earth.