Apollo 13 Flown and Apollo 14 Lunar Module Flown Lunar Bible Text Fragment, with Certificate of Authenticity Signed by Apollo 14 Lunar Module Pilot Ed Mitchell and Apollo Prayer League Representative James W. Stout. A 0.25" x 0.25" fifty-page section of a Microform Bible contained in a beautiful 3.375" tall Fabergé Egg housed in a deluxe deep blue suede box with an engraved plate: "APOLLO 14/ Lunar Surface Bible Text Fragment/ 50 Pages". The "Lunar Bible" represents the first Bible, the first complete scripture, and the first published book ever carried by Man to landfall on the Moon. A complete Lunar Bible contains all 1245-pages of the King James Bible, and was printed as a miniature "Microform" book out of necessity, given the size and weight constraints for flight to the lunar surface. The text of the COA can be read online. Excellent.

One hundred complete copies of the Lunar Bible landed on the Moon during Apollo 14 in the personal "PPK" bag of Moonwalker Edgar D. Mitchell (after having been previously flown to the Moon aboard the Apollo 13 mission). The Bible from which this text-fragment originates thus flew to the Moon twice, having circled it once on Apollo 13 and then accomplishing its purpose by landing on the Moon during Apollo 14! It then spent three days housed in the Lunar Module Antares, where it resided under the one-sixth gravity of the Moon and was exposed directly to the lunar environment each time the hatch was opened for moonwalks.

After the mission, a portion of the complete Bibles were carefully segmented into both fifty-page and two-page sizes by Reverend John M. Stout to maximize the potential number of recipients. This was the exact approach taken with the Gutenberg Bible, whereas two defective copies (the "Trier II" and "Noble Fragment" copies) were segmented into individual books and leaves due to the scarcity of complete copies. Indeed, there are numerous parallels between the Gutenberg Bibles and the Lunar Bible.

The fifty-page copy offered here is one of only thirty-two examples that were officially flight-certified by both astronaut Mitchell and James W. Stout, former "Apollo Prayer League Governing Committee" member, during the "Lunar Bible Certification Project" (A.D. 2000 - 2001) and then encapsulated in modern Faberge' Eggs. This lot has profound significance not only to space collectors as a twice-flown and once-landed lunar artifact, but also to the religious, rare book, and even the Masonic community as astronaut Edgar Mitchell is a Freemason.

Several of the thirty-two Fabergé-encased copies are already permanently off the market, with a copy having been acquired by the State of Georgia for their rare-book holdings, and two more in the personal space collection of Edgar Mitchell and James W. Stout. Another fifty-page example is on indefinite-loan to the Atlanta Masonic Library and Museum. It is likely that many of the fully-certified Fabergé-encased copies will be permanently institutionalized within a generation or two, given their profound historical and religious importance. You may read "The Story of the First Lunar Bible" on-line at www.lunarbible.com.