A microfilm Bible regarded as one of the rarest "books" on Earth, after flying around the moon once with Apollo 13 and later landing on the moon's surface with Apollo 14, sold at an auction of space memorabilia in Dallas on Wednesday for $75,000.
The "Lunar Bible," which measures 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) on a side and can be read with a microscope, is one of 12 complete Bibles that remain from a collection of 100 Bibles that made it to the moon's surface with astronaut Edgar Mitchell in 1971.
The Bibles were produced by the Apollo Prayer League, a group started by NASA employees, and spread globally with the idea of using man's first trip to the moon to carry the words of God, the auction house said.
Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell carried 512 of the stamp-size Bibles on the 1970 mission, which was supposed to land on the moon but did not after an oxygen tank explosion in flight severely damaged the spacecraft.
Most of those Bibles were cut into pieces and distributed to dignitaries over the years. Twelve of those that remained passed to astronaut Mitchell. One of the bibles is on display through June 22 at the Vatican, where it is a marquee artifact along with three fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.