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The Apollo 11 Contingency Lunar Sample Return Bag used by astronaut Neil Armstrong is displayed at Sotheby’s in New York earlier this month. The bag containing traces of moon dust was sold at auction today.
NEW YORK >> A bag containing traces of moon dust has sold at auction in New York City for $1.8 million.
The sale at Sotheby’s today was surrounded by some fallout from a galactic court battle.
The collection bag was used by astronaut Neil Armstrong during the first manned mission to the moon in 1969.
But the artifact from the Apollo 11 mission was misidentified and sold at an online government auction. NASA fought to get it back.
In December, a federal judge ruled that it legally belonged to a Chicago-area woman who bought it in 2015 for $995.
Sotheby’s declined to identify the buyer who won the bag.
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