The Only Camera NASA Brought Back From the Moon is to be Auctioned off

NASA sent 14 cameras to the moon during its Apollo 11-17 missions in 1969-1972 which were all made by Hasselblad. The Swedish photographic equipment maker is quite proud of the fact that their cameras used during the moon exploration missions and even has its own collection of cameras named ‘Lunar’ to commemorate the historic feet. But out of the 14 Hasselblad cameras sent on the moon, only one was brought back to the earth, making it extremely rare and coveted as a collector’s item.

The boxy silver colored camera with a clip which could be attached to the front of an astronaut’s suit is all set to go under the hammer. The unique Hasselblad camera is estimated to be worth 150 000-200 000 Euros ($200,000 to $270,000 approximately) and will be auctioned on March 22 in Vienna, said Peter Coeln, owner of the Westlicht gallery holding the auction.

The Hasselblad camera, which is being auctioned by an Italian collector, was used by astronaut Jim Irwin to take 299 pictures during the Apollo 15 mission in 1971. A small plate inside with the number 38 — the same number that appears on the NASA snapshots — “is 100-percent proof that this camera is the real thing and really was on the moon,” Coeln said.

All the cameras sent on the lunar mission were left back on the moon to save weight and bring back moon rocks and other samples, but this one was brought back as the camera jammed and there was a problem retrieving the film. Over the years, we have seen a lot of equipments used by NASA go under the hammer like the NASA Omni Hand Prototype and even the space shuttle orbiters used by the US space agency.