Man spends $27,000 on Armstrong check

AMHERST, N.H. (AP) - A check signed by Neil Armstrong hours before he took off for the moon has been sold for $27,350, 40 years to the day after it was written.

An engineer in California bought it in an online auction run by RR Auction of Amherst, N.H. The company says Armstrong — about to become the first man to walk on the moon — wrote the check to NASA manager Harold Collins just in case something went wrong, but assured Collins he would return.

The $10.50 check was sold Thursday morning, ending the 17-day auction.

Anthony Pizzitola of the Universal Autograph Collectors Club says the price is a record for a single Armstrong autograph.

Jack Staub, an engineer and business owner from Newport Beach, Calif., bought the check.