A piece of history from the first manned mission to the moon is up for auction at Sotheby’s in New York Thursday after a legal tug of war between NASA and a private collector.
On its official website, Sotheby’spredicts the Apollo-mission artifact could be sold for as much as $4 million, an astronomical return on Ms. Carlson’s investment.
The auction will also feature the Apollo 13 flight plan annotated by its crew, a spacesuit worn by United States astronaut Gus Grissom, and lunar photographs taken by the NASA.
The bag used by Armstrong was forgotten until it resurfaced three years ago on a USA government auction website and was bought by Chicago attorney Nancy Carlson for $995. However, details of the 2015 purchase were made public during the court case.
After tests verified it was legitimate, NASA refused to send the moon rocks back, claiming it was their property.
The 12-by-8 1/2-inch bag was misidentified and sold at an online government auction.
U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten in Wichita, Kansas said that while it shouldn’t have gone up for auction, he didn’t have the authority to reverse the sale.
The moon dust is being auctioned on Thursday, the 48th anniversary of the landing of Apollo 11.
For All Moonkind co-founder Michelle Hanlon will lay out her arguments at the Starship Congress 2017 to be held in Monterey, California, from August 7-9, the non-profit said in a news release Tuesday.
