‘First Lunar Sample Collected By Humanity’ Up For Auction: $1M Moondust, Anyone?

The first-ever moon samples, most of which were collected by Neil Armstrong on Apollo 11, could find a place on your mantlepiece as it goes under the hammer next week.

Estimates for the collection range between US$800,000 to US$1.2 million at Bonhams, though it could go for even more should prices be driven up by a bidding war. 

Space geeks will no doubt be vying to get their hands on these five Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) aluminum sample stubs, considering it’s advertised to be “the only Apollo sample that can be legally sold”. 

Each sample is topped with a 10 mm (0.4 inch) carbon tape that comprises moon dust collected as part of the mission, which had been intended to be the astronaut’s first extra-vehicular activity (EVA) upon leaving the Lunar Module (LM). 

However, as Armstrong was too occupied snapping away on his camera, NASA had to remind him a few times to remember to collect the sample, which was eventually brought back down to Earth together with the rest of the contingent. 

According to transcripts from the trip, the world-renowned space cadet had described the surface of the moon as “fine and powdery,” saying he could “kick it up loosely with my toe.” 

Interestingly, the dust on sale, which comes from the Teflon bag Armstrong used to collect the sample, had been lost by NASA and found its way into the personal collection of a former curator of the Cosmosphere space museum in Hutchinson, Kansas. 

Purchased in a US Marshal auction, the bag was then sent back to the space agency for identification, which confirmed it was indeed the artifact from the Apollo 11 mission.

To further prove the veracity of the samples, the stubs were individually tested by lunar expert and geologist Professor Stephen J Mojzsis earlier this year, confirming yet again that the mineral grains were characteristic to lunar material. 

However, it was noted that sample 4’s carbon tape contained lunar particles of a different generation to the others, which could suggest that the sample was collected using different technique or protocol.  

Head over here to place your bid on collectibles that were (literally) out of this world.

[via Robb Report and Bonhams, images via Bonhams]