The first auction since Congress passed a law allowing astronauts to sell their mission souvenirs features the Space Magna Carta, a rocket engine and a lot of signed memorabilia.
By Shaunacy Ferro Posted 03.21.2013 at 3:30 pm 3 Comments

Goodwill Disc
Goodwill Disc Courtesy Bonhams
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When astronaut James Lovell put his Apollo 13 Lunar Module Activation Checklist up for auction in Dallas last year, the artifact sold for a record $388,375 -- and got him in hot water with NASA, which said that he didn't have the right to sell it in the first place. Finally, in September, Congress passed a law granting astronauts from Mercury, Gemini and Apollo-era missions full rights over any artifacts they received.

On Monday, Bonhams auction house in New York is hosting the first sale of space-related artifacts since the law's passage. Up for auction is a deluge of memorabilia from the history of flight and space exploration, including signed photos, rocket engines, spacecraft models, even random space-suit parts. If you've got $70,000 to spare, you might consider putting in a bid on the Space Magna Carta, a certificate symbolizing the end of the space race, or perhaps a few relics from the first mission to the moon -- like a disc carrying messages of goodwill from Earth to our alien friends.

We collected a few of the most intriguing items below. You can check out the full catalog here.


Click here to enter the gallery

3 Comments

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haiderjee325
03/21/13 at 3:58 pm

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W111
03/25/13 at 5:09 pm

I love this stuff but sadly these are out of my budget. You can buy nice collections of space flown items in online auction sites cheaply, I got a set of 4-different shuttle flown pieces in one display for under $100.

I'd love to find something from early missions but those are harder and harder to come by. I remember when these things were dirt cheap.



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