(ORDO NEWS) — Moon dust collected by NASA astronaut Neil Armstrong during the first Apollo 11 satellite landing in 1969 is going up for auction. April 13th. This will take place at Bonhams’ space-themed auction.
Note that NASA tried for several years through the courts to ensure that lunar dust did not fall into the hands of a private individual, but in the end the department did not succeed in this.
NASA has confirmed the authenticity of the auctioned lunar dust, owned by Nancy Lee Carlson (Nancy Lee Carlson). She purchased an item called a zippered moon dust sample delivery bag in 2015 for just $995.
Now there is every reason to believe that she will be able to sell a bag of moon dust for a seven-figure sum.
When Carlson sent the supposed lunar dust to NASA to be authenticated, the agency realized that the bag was related to the Apollo 11 mission and refused to return it, saying it belonged to “the American people” and should be on public display.
It’s unclear under what circumstances NASA lost the moon dust bag, but it is known that it was owned by Max Ary, co-founder of the Kansas-based space museum, in 2002. He was later convicted of trading in stolen artifacts.
After NASA refused to return the lunar dust, Carlson sued the agency, accusing it of misappropriating its property.
In 2016, the court ruled in her favor, recognizing Carlson as a bona fide buyer who took possession of the moon dust legally. It is assumed that in the upcoming auction, the cost of a bag of lunar dust will be from $800,000 to $1.2 million.
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