Space & Astronomy

Moon rocks sell at auction for $855,000

By T.K. Randall
November 30, 2018 ·  3 comments

Luna 16 landed on the Moon in September 1970. Image Credit: CC BY-SA 3.0 Bembmv The only known privately owned Moon samples in existence, the rocks were given to Nina Ivanovna Koroleva upon the death of her husband - Sergei Pavlovich Korolev - in honor of his work as director of the Soviet space program.

His efforts were instrumental in making the retrieval mission possible, however he died a few years before Luna 16 launched.

The rocks were later sold to a Soviet space mission collector for $442,500 before selling again at Sotheby's two days ago in New York for the grand total of $855,000.

"Space exploration is something that's universal," said Sotheby's expert Cassandra Hatton.

"Anybody can look up at the sky and get excited about it."


Source: Phys.org | Comments (3)

Tags: Moon Rocks