DALLAS, TX.- Bidding interest soared for a signed, framed display of Four Flown Space Suit Patches from Apollo 10 that once belonged to an astronaut acknowledged as one of the most prolific in the history of the U.S. Space program. By the time the final bid landed, the display of patches from astronaut John Young more than quadrupled its pre-auction estimate when it sold for $137,500.

The out-of-this-world result for this magnificent lot led Heritage’s December 6-7 Space Exploration Signature® Auction to $2,737,584, thanks to eager participation by more than 1,500 bidders.

“John Young’s name is sprinkled throughout the annals of the U.S. Space program,” says Brad Palmer, Director of Space Exploration at Heritage Auctions. “The fact that this lot performed so well shows that Heritage Auctions’ clients not only want items that belonged to astronauts, but they also understand the historical significance of Young and the missions on which he flew.”

The display was one of more than more than 100 lots in this auction from the Family Collection of Jacques Bracke, a Belgian collector whose collection is considered one of the very finest in the world from a non-astronaut. More treasures from his collection will be offered through Heritage Auctions in future auctions. The lots selected for this auction revealed a focus on items that actually flew into space, many of which have not reached the collecting market in decades.

Also from the Bracke collection was an Apollo 11-Flown American Flag on a Crew-Signed Presentation Certificate that not only was aboard the first lunar landing mission, but also was signed by the three astronauts on board. The 6-by-4-inch flag, which bears the signatures of Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, includes at the very bottom are the words Armstrong said in what is the most famous line in the history of space exploration: “One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” This magnificent keepsake more than doubled its estimate when it sold for $93,750.

The Bracke collection produced one of the auction’s undeniably fascinating lots: an Apollo 11 Flown Command/Service Module Trans-Lunar Coast Star Chart Originally from the Personal Collection of Mission Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin that brought $68,750, more than doubling its pre-auction estimate. Titled “CSM TLC STAR CHART (B)/ LAUNCH JULY 21,” it was specifically designed for use in the Command Module Columbia during the Apollo 11 mission to the moon. This museum-worthy chart, which has been in Bracke’s collection since 2009, displays the Sun and planets as colored dots, standing out vividly against the star field to make them readily identifiable by the astronauts.

Items that have been flown to the Moon always generate interest, and that was the case for an Apollo11-Flown American Flag Certified and Signed by Michael Collins, also from the Bracke collection,that more than doubled its pre-auction estimate when it drew a winning bid of $55,000. A 6-by-4-inch silk U.S. flag that flew aboard the Apollo 11 mission, Collins has signed on two of the lower white stripes in black ink: “Carried to the Moon on Apollo Eleven/ July 1969- Michael Collins CMP.”

The Bracke collection yielded many of the treasures in the auction, but the event also featured selections from the collection of Apollo 13 astronaut Fred Haise, who was scheduled to become the sixth man to walk on the moon, a plan that changed after an explosion in the Service Module’s oxygen tank. Among the lots from his collection was an Apollo 13 Lunar Module Aquarius-Flown Flashlight Directly from the Personal Collection of Lunar Module Pilot Fred Haise that shined brightly at $106,250, more than 10 times the pre-auction estimate. The explosion and subsequent aborting of the mission had altered plans to salvage various pieces of hardware from the Lunar Module LM-7 or Aquarius, and a flashlight was one of those items that Haise used for most of four days to provide lighting. With the extreme power down there was little spacecraft lighting available. This flashlight is the one used on Apollo 13 and has been in Haise’s personal space artifact collection since 1970. It represents an extraordinary link to one of NASA’s most challenging missions, with the poignant inscription “LIT MY WAY HOME.”

One lucky bidder got a grip on an Apollo 13 Lunar Module Aquarius Flown Translation Control Assembly T-Handle Controller from Haise’s collection for $55,000. The Translation Control Assembly (TCA) allowed for precise manual control of the lunar module’s translation-its linear movements along the X, Y and Z axes during spaceflight, utilizing a series of thrusters for positioning. Following the Service Module oxygen tank explosion, the crew’s ability to manually control the LM Aquarius became critical, and the lunar module was repurposed as a “lifeboat” to support the crew of Apollo 13.