When Neil Armstrong made his journey to the moon in 1969 on Apollo 11, he collected particles of lunar dust that are now up for sale. The auction company Bonhams anticipates the sale to close between $800,000-$1.2 million. This bag of lunar dust has an interesting history. Armstrong brought the particles Earth-side after his mission, but NASA misplaced the bag of lunar dust after loaning it to a space museum. It was eventually seized by US Marshals Service and auctioned off to a woman named Nancy Carlson for just under $1K. Carlson sent the bag to NASA to determine where its contents came from, and when NASA realized what it was they didn’t send it back to her. Carolson sued NASA, won, and is now auctioning off the lunar dust via Bonhams. These are the only samples from Apollo 11 that are allowed to be sold, making them an incredibly high-ticket item.
Image via Bonhams
Read other stories from the 4/11/22 newsletter: