There are some other, more personal items in the collection, as well, including a centennial flag from Armstrong's alma mater, Purdue University, that the astronaut took with him on Apollo 11. He also saved his own Boy Scout cap. According to the Associated Press, Armstrong never told his son Mark what to do with all the items he'd collected. "I don't think he spent much time thinking about it," Mark Armstrong told the AP. "He did save all the items, so he obviously felt they were worth saving."

Armstrong passed away in 2012, and his sons decided it was time to start dealing with all the artifacts. "We felt like the number of people that could help us identify them and give us the historical context was diminishing and that the problem of understanding that context would only get worse over time," Mark Armstrong said.