Cathal BarryA hand-painted prayer made by British primary school children and presented to an Apollo astronaut more than four decades ago is to go on sale in an auction of space memorabilia in Boston this week.
The prayer, painted by pupils at the Holy Spirit Roman Catholic School in Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire and illuminated by Carmelite nuns in Lancashire, was given to astronaut Charlie Duke before the Apollo 16 moon landing in 1972. The prayer calls for God’s blessing upon the three astronauts on board and for God to “grant them wisdom and courage to fulfil their duties well and complete the mission successfully and safely”.
Separately, a miniscule copy of the Bible which was sent into orbit with Apollo 13 in 1970, is to be sold at auction in Dallas this week. It was recovered in the Pacific when the mission went wrong and sent back up in 1971 with Apollo 14, finally landing on the Moon.