The ring-bound, 44-page manual that helped Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin fly the Apollo 11 lunar lander could be yours – for several million dollars. The “timeline book” describes all the procedures used to undock, land and rendezvous the Eagle lander with its Columbia command module during its momentous voyage in 1969. The book is up for auction at Christie’s in New York and contains drawings and check marks made by the astronauts. If you cannot afford the expected price of $9m, the manual will be on public display in New York until 17 May before embarking on a world tour. The auction will be held on 18 July.
Parking a car in some places can seem as complicated as piloting a lunar lander. So the next time you are contemplating where to leave your car you might want to consult “Simple parking strategies” by physicists Paul Krapivsky of Boston University and Sidney Redner of the Santa Fe Institute. The duo look at that age-old conundrum: should you park far from a popular destination, where finding a spot is easy but the walk is long, or should you invest your time in trying to park close to the destination, where spots are much harder to find?
