Preparation is on to sell the famous moon bag of astronaut Neil Armstrong. The auction of the moon bag will take place in New York City on July 20.
Neil Armstrong was the well-known U.S. astronaut who took part in the Apollo 11 mission and collected dust from the lunar surface in a bag. He was the first astronaut who brought the soil sample from the moon to the earth. The moon bag still contains that dust and small rocks.
The auction of the moon bag with other important space memorabilia will take place at the Sotheby's in the New York City on July 20. Reuters reported that the auction includes flight plan of Apollo 13, photographs of the moon taken by NASA, and the spacesuit worn by Gus Grissom. Like Neil Armstrong, Gus Grissom was also a famous U.S. astronaut to fly in space.
Fortune stated that the flight plan is expected to bring $30,000 to $40,000 at the auction. The record file for the famous Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin may fetch $50,000 to $80,000. Sotheby's, the key host of this auction, estimates expects that the moon bag of Neil Armstrong will fetch up to $4 million.
The organizers hope that the sale of the moon bag and other space memorabilia will draw the attention of large crowds. Senior Specialist and the vice president at the Sotheby's, Cassandra Hatton, stated significantly about this event. Hatton said that space is not a culturally specific subject and it doesn't relate to a person's religion or language.
This moon bag of Neil Armstrong was previously kept in the box at the famous Johnson Space Center situated in Houston. But, it was untraceable for decades. After a long time, this bag was finally spotted in a garage of the Kansas museum's manager, Max Ary. Later in 2014, the court convicted the manager of theft.
Fortune reported that only three years ago the Neil Armstrong's moon dust bag could not find a bidder at the U.S. Marshall's service auction. Later in 2015, Nancy Lee Carlson bought this artifact at a cost price of $995. She is a Chicago-area attorney. With an intention to know more about it, Carlson sent the moon bag to the U.S. space agency NASA.
After the tests, NASA confirmed that the debris kept inside the bag was the moon dust brought by Neil Armstrong. After the test result, NASA tried to keep the moon bag, though, Carlson sued the space agency and got it back. Now the attorney has decided to auction this artifact again.
