BOSTON, MASS.- A flown Apollo 15 Command Module navigation instrument known as the “8 Ball” sold for $375,000 at Boston-based RR Auction. The device led the company’s recent Space Exploration and Aviation sale.

Installed on Panel 2 inside the Apollo 15 Command Module Endeavour, above the Apollo Guidance Computer’s DSKY interface, the Flight Director Attitude Indicator (FDAI), known to astronauts as the “8 Ball,” is visible in post-flight interior photographs taken during recovery operations. It remains in its original configuration, with associated cabling and inspection markings consistent with its documented use aboard the spacecraft.

The instrument served as the crew’s primary visual reference for spacecraft orientation, combining pitch, yaw, and roll in a single spherical display. It remained aboard during Al Worden’s spacewalk on the return to Earth, the first deep-space spacewalk of its kind.

Documentation identifies the instrument with the Apollo 15 Command Module and records its removal on August 15, 1972. After its use on Apollo 15, it was retained for later Apollo-era support, including Skylab, and transferred in 1975 for simulation work tied to the Space Shuttle program. Inspection records indicate continued testing into the early 1980s, with retirement from program use documented in 1998.

“This is the ‘8 Ball’ the crew used to keep their bearings in space,” said Bobby Livingston, executive vice president at RR Auction. “It was aboard the spacecraft during Al Worden’s spacewalk on the return to Earth, one of the defining moments of Apollo 15.”

The Space Exploration and Aviation sale realized a total of $1,764,603.

Additional highlights included:

• Gemini 9, Apollo 10, and Apollo 17 lunar surface-flown $2 bill from the personal collection of Gene Cernan, sold for $91,519

• Apollo 7–16 Robbins medallion collection (10), including eight flown examples, from the personal collection of Edgar Mitchell, sold for $49,913

• Gemini 8 flown American flag from the personal collection of Dave Scott, sold for $47,406

• Apollo 1 signed ‘Type 1’ red-numbered NASA photograph, sold for $46,926

• NWA 12691 lunar meteorite rendered as a sphere, sold for $28,369

• Apollo 14 gold-and-platinum ring with flown lunar relics from the personal collection of Edgar Mitchell, sold for $28,016