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Armstrong EKG Readings During Moon Landing Up For Auction

Posted by samzenpus on from the owning-the-chart dept.

Okian Warrior writes "New Hampshire based RR Auction is selling the EKG of Neil Armstrong's heartbeat taken when he stepped onto the moon, among many other items of space and aviation historical interest. 'It was really slow on the way down, while Aldrin's was racing' described Gerald Schaber, geologist, who had the task of monitoring Armstrong's heartbeat during the final famous moments of the Apollo 11 landing. The auction begins May 16th."

52 comments

  1. HIPAA? by Karl+Cocknozzle · · Score: 2, Funny

    Wouldn't this violate HIPAA? This is a medical record of the health of a specific patient, easily identified.

    --
    Who did what now?
    1. Re:HIPAA? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If it was being taken by a licensed medical professional I'm sure it would. But it was taken by a geologist, so I'm not sure it counts.

    2. Re:HIPAA? by Baloroth · · Score: 1

      HIPAA only covers a narrow range of institutions and the contractors who work for them (healthcare providers, insurance companies, stuff like that). It doesn't cover just anyone making readings of a heartbeat.

      --
      "None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license." --John Milton
    3. Re:HIPAA? by dkleinsc · · Score: 1

      Wouldn't this violate HIPAA? This is a medical record of the health of a specific patient, easily identified.

      What's Neil Armstrong going to do about it if it is a HIPAA violation?

      --
      I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
    4. Re:HIPAA? by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Since it's not copyright, a lawsuit from beyond the grave is unlikely.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    5. Re:HIPAA? by Sarten-X · · Score: 2

      That's more dead-on accurate than I think you realize.

      US privacy laws, including HIPAA, typically only apply to living persons. Once they're dead, their personal information quickly loses legal protection. There is a bit of a gray area concerning living relatives of the deceased, and organizations may keep information protected because it's easier, but the legal protection expires.

      --
      You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
    6. Re:HIPAA? by Karl+Cocknozzle · · Score: 1

      Wouldn't this violate HIPAA? This is a medical record of the health of a specific patient, easily identified.

      What's Neil Armstrong going to do about it if it is a HIPAA violation?

      Yeah, I forgot he died.

      Still, though, given the raging hard-on most institutions in the US have about HIPAA, and specifically, about revealing "PHI" to the public (not an abbreviation for Philadelphia, but for "Patient Health Information) you'd think that even the appearance of selling medical records would be frowned upon, even if it isn't a technical violation.

      --
      Who did what now?
  2. Value by Bigby · · Score: 5, Informative

    For those interested, it sold for $12,500 in Apr 2005. It has had 8 years and two deaths (Neil and NASA manned flights) over that period to help it appreciate in value.

    I would say it sells somewhere around $75,000.

    1. Re:Value by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I just can't help but think that this sort of appreciation is not easily quantifiable until you get to auction. The supply for this particular good has not changed at all, since it has not been possible to reproduce such an EKG since the Apollo program ended. The demand is what's changing over time. How could you or anyone else know whether the highest bidder's price has increased by a factor of 6 until it gets to auction?

      tl;dr: I believe that you pulled that new price out of your ass, good sir.

    2. Re:Value by ArsonSmith · · Score: 1

      So his current EKG is ---------

      --
      Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
    3. Re:Value by Bigby · · Score: 1

      I did pull it out of my ass. Demand has certainly went up since Neil is now dead and NASA is now not even doing manned space flight. Also, buyers will forcast the increase in demand when 2019 (50th year) rolls around.

      The production of authentic NASA memorabilia has fallen sharply so the supply of alternatives has flat lined too. However, I mostly base the number on what I would pay if I had unlimited money.

  3. Something for the man who has everything by mykepredko · · Score: 1

    Other than that?

    I imagine it has some scientific value for showing how well a highly trained and experienced individual goes through a stressful situation, but other than that?

    myke

    --
    Mimetics Inc. Twitter
  4. shouldnt this by nimbius · · Score: 1

    be available for request through FOIA? it cant possibly be that exclusive. Lm Activation Checklist and flight logs are public domain essentially. the rest of the shit on the auction site is kitsch like signatures, parachute material, cut up bible scrap, and even a medal. IMO it only serves to highlight the ridiculously underfunded state of space science and nasa in general.

    --
    Good people go to bed earlier.
    1. Re:shouldnt this by gstoddart · · Score: 1

      Sure, they should be able to get the information .. but I believe what is for sale here is the actual paper record during the event.

      They're not selling you the information, but the artifact.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  5. Why buy a fake EKG? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    The most real this could be is Armstrong's EKG from the studio where the landing was staged, considering the entire moon landing was a hoax.

    (end easy troll)

  6. Tape by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Did they find the lost datatape yet?

    1. Re:Tape by OhSoLaMeow · · Score: 1

      Interestingly enough, there are 18 minutes missing from the EKG. I understand Rose Mary Woods was the person who stored the EKG.

      --
      They can take my LifeAlert pendant when they pry it from my cold dead fingers.
  7. Eagle Landing by Ashenkase · · Score: 4, Interesting

    A far more interesting EKG would be that of Armstrong during the Eagle's descent. By the time the Eagle landed Armstrong's heart rate was up to 150. You would have never heard it in his voice but he was as amped up as the guys turning blue in mission control.

    1. Re:Eagle Landing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Funny how that works sometimes. I had an autopilot failure in flight that appeared to be a controls failure. My heartrate was WAAYYY up there and I was definitely very amped up. I went back and listened to the ATC recordings of my emergency declaration and the following couple minutes until landing. I *sounded* as calm as if I was sitting on the front porch drinking lemonade! The reality of course was much different. :-)

    2. Re:Eagle Landing by aicrules · · Score: 3, Insightful

      This is what is meant when someone says "then my training took over..." Training repetition until you do it without even have to think about it. Guess it works!

    3. Re:Eagle Landing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I don't know how secret this is, but I'd be interested to hear it if you can upload it somewhere.

    4. Re:Eagle Landing by Ashenkase · · Score: 2

      This is an awesome simulation of descent and landing. It shows Armstrongs heart rate with a bunch of other stats: http://www.firstmenonthemoon.com/

    5. Re:Eagle Landing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A far more interesting EKG would be that of Armstrong during the Eagle's descent.

      Even more interesting would be his EKG from the final leg of the Tour de France.

    6. Re:Eagle Landing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Doesn't even require a lot of training. Just knowing there is a solution to get out of a deadly situation is extremely helpful. I had a bad pressure gage on my 5th dive after getting PADI certified. I ended up 70 ft down with an "empty" tank. Took a breath and got nothing. No buddy, because I had to surface early from 90 ft for another problem.

      Luckily I knew the procedure. Don't panic and surface slowly. The tank isn't really empty, just equalized with the surroundings. Surfacing slowly, you take a breath about every 10 feet.

    7. Re:Eagle Landing by Ashenkase · · Score: 2

      Lance Armstrong has no heart! They used any remaining heart tissue they could scrounge together to repair his nut sack.

    8. Re:Eagle Landing by rastoboy29 · · Score: 1

      hey bro where did you get that info?  ie. the bpm at that time?

      I'm really looking for a hard link for it for an essay i'm writing.

      --
      expandfairuse.org
  8. Jim Lovell might have something to say about that. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "I am tired of the entire western world knowing how my kidneys are functioning!"
    -- Capt. Jim Lovell, as portrayed by Tom Hanks in Apollo 13

  9. Who owns this? by macbeth66 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Doesn't this belong to the people of the United States? They paid for it. If it was sold to raise money, then I'm fine with this. And that should be part of the public record. But otherwise, WTF?

    1. Re:Who owns this? by amicusNYCL · · Score: 1

      Fine, you own the data. You can have access to it whenever you want, I'm sure. But you don't own this, the actual paper sheet and the plaque that they mounted it on. It was given to a private individual, who sold it. Now you can buy it. Or perhaps instead you would like a sword, or Buzz's underwear, or this fine handle.

      --
      "Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
    2. Re:Who owns this? by ArsonSmith · · Score: 1

      Looking at the tag for the handle just made me think of an astronaut finding that tag instead of the handle and radioing "Huston, we have a problem."

      --
      Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
  10. People buy the supidest shit.. by Falkentyne · · Score: 4, Funny

    Speaking of which.. if anybody is interested I can sell my next bowel movement that I'm currently in the process of making while I read the post about this auction for Neil Armstrong's EKG.

    I won't even auction it. I'll give you a buy it now price of $10. What a steal! Hurry now, supplies are limited!

    1. Re:People buy the supidest shit.. by Opportunist · · Score: 2

      Unless you dumped on the moon, I'll pass.

      Aldrin's BM might be worth something, dunno.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  11. Lines on a paper by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Who cares.....

    1. Re:Lines on a paper by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just like Shakespeare.

  12. Geologist reading EKG? by stevegee58 · · Score: 2

    Sounds like a plumber doing a colonoscopy.

    1. Re:Geologist reading EKG? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'd rather a plumber did my colonoscopy than have an orthopaedic surgeon interpret my ECG

    2. Re:Geologist reading EKG? by trazom28 · · Score: 1

      Well.. a plumber doing a colonscopy is actually pretty close.. considering..

      --
      {} ------ When I think of a good sig, I'll put it here
    3. Re:Geologist reading EKG? by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      I'd rather a plumber did my colonoscopy than have an orthopaedic surgeon interpret my ECG

      Not MY plumber, though...we had to replace a meter of the drain because it started leaking over time. Imagine *that* with your colon.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
  13. I'm selling mine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm putting up my EKG readings for auction too. They were higher than normal due to the facr that the technician greasing me up for the test was smoking hot! :)

    Paypal and most major credit cards accepted.

  14. Misread teh title as Lance Armstrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If it were him up on Apollo 11, the case of a faked moon landing would be strong.

  15. Oblig Onion Article: by richtopia · · Score: 1

    http://www.theonion.com/articles/july-21-1969,10515/

  16. Brass Balls by IhateMonkeys · · Score: 0

    Now that we know how his heart was doing, when are we going to know the size of his balls?
    With the risks of space travel in its infancy and the inherent dangers and unknowns, they must have been the size of grapefruits.

    1. Re:Brass Balls by Laxori666 · · Score: 1

      They were definitely balls of steel.

    2. Re: Brass Balls by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Neil Armstrong, astronaut/
      He had balls bigger than King Kong/
      First big suit on the moon and he's asked to play golf/
      Hole in one!

  17. So where is the auction link? by ShaunC · · Score: 1

    The summary links to three different categories of items on the auction site, none of which contain the EKG paper. A search on that site for Armstrong yields only three items, all of which are signed photos. The PCMag article links in turn to a local Denver TV station's article, at which point the trail goes cold.

    Where is a link to actually view / bid on the item?

    --
    Thanks to the War on Drugs, it's easier to buy meth than it is to buy cold medicine!
    1. Re:So where is the auction link? by amicusNYCL · · Score: 1

      http://www.rrauction.com/preview_itemdetail.cfm?IN=405

      --
      "Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
  18. Not as interesting as his EEG readings by kheldan · · Score: 1

    Or at least an analysis of his EEG readings, if they'd thought to record such.

    --
    Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
  19. Other EKGs available on demand by Kittenman · · Score: 1

    I'm selling Beethoven's current heartrate, along with ... oh... Einstein's, Newton's, George Washington's, Oliver Cromwell's .... details on request.

    --
    "The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes" - Winston Churchill
  20. #forshame by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Americans wonder why they dont have much history, they are too busy auctioning their societies heritage in exchange for plastic Chinese trinkets.

    #noshame

  21. Armstrong's heart rate affected by drugs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He was on performance enhancing drugs! It doesn't count!

    Oh... wait a minute... Neil, not Lance...