It’s not stardust — but for space nuts, it’s the next best thing.
A bag with traces of mankind’s first collection of lunar material is set to be auctioned by Sotheby’s next week and is expected to fetch an out-of-this-world price of at least $2 million.
The July 20 auction falls on the 48th anniversary of Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong becoming the first man to set foot on the moon and uttering the words, “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”
The 12-by-8½-inch pouch was used by Armstrong to scoop up rocks and dust. Its sale marks another stop on the bag’s remarkable odyssey through space and US courts.
The white bag — emblazoned with the words “LUNAR SAMPLE RETURN” — has had a decades-long trajectory, during which it was misidentified and nearly trashed.
Then, two years ago, it appeared in a seized-assets auction staged on behalf of the US Marshals Service. That’s when eagle-eyed geology buff Nancy Lee Carlson scooped it up for just $995.
When she sent it to NASA for authentication, the space agency refused to give it back, launching a court battle won by Carlson, a real-estate lawyer from Inverness, Ill.
Other high-flying items for sale at the Space Exploration auction in New York City will include:
- Armstrong’s snapshot of fellow Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin standing on the moon, with an estimated value of $3,000 to $5,000.
- A documented flight plan astronauts used to return to Earth, valued at $25,000 to $35,000.
- A photo of Apollo 17 astronaut Gene Cernan, currently the last man to walk on the moon, cruising around a lunar valley in NASA’s lunar-roving vehicle. It’s expected to fetch $2,000 to $3,000.
- Original prints of images taken by Lunar Orbiter V, valued at between $100,000 and $125,000.
- Typewritten notes of Russian cosmonaut Yuri Alexeyevich following his 1961 journey aboard Vostok 1. They go for between $50,000 and $80,000.
Also on the auction block is an item that might be bought for “Peanuts”: The Astronaut Snoopy plush that served as mascot on the Apollo 10 mission, with an estimated price of $2,000 to $3,000.
