If you have a few thousand dollars to blow, now is your shot at owning some of the least-inspiring artifacts from the history of space exploration — from decades-old “space roast” to pornography snuck aboard the Apollo 12 mission. Via AFP:
A freeze-dried beef pot roast, the business card of the first man to walk on the moon, and a Playboy calendar that rode to space in 1969 are among a mishmash of old space items on US auction this week.
While space enthusiasts will not find the highly coveted items that NASA keeps under lock and key, like spacesuits, many of the offers have a connection to the space program that shows an unusual side of the collectors’ passion.
For instance, the muddy brown block of space roast, complete with plastic bag and nozzle for injecting hot water.
There is also a cube of strawberry cereal marked “Space Food” for the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions, the first three to bring humans into space orbit and eventually, with Apollo 11, to the moon.
How much would you pay for a set of someone’s teeth? Winston Churchill’s specially made dentures (designed to maintain his notable lisp) were sold for three times the expected price. 