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The Mystery of the 'Only Camera To Come Back From the Moon'

Posted by Soulskill on from the camera-moon-colonization-project-flourishing dept.

Daniel_Stuckey writes: "After a furious bidding war in Vienna on Saturday, a Japanese camera collector has bought a Hasselblad camera for $910,000 in a record-setting auction of what's been widely called the 'only camera to come back from the moon.' But contrary to claims repeated across the Internet on Monday, this isn't the only camera to come back from the moon. In fact, some think it may have never landed on the moon at all. And because of rules surrounding most NASA property, its sale may actually violate U.S. law. One thing we know: the 70mm Hasselblad 500 is one of fourteen cutting-edge cameras that astronauts used in orbit around the moon and on the lunar surface during the Apollo program. All of the images we have from those moon missions were taken by these machines, which were either mounted inside the command module that circled the moon or were attached to space suits at the chest. This particular camera was, reports the Verge, among many other sources, 'used on the moon during the Apollo 15 mission in 1971,' and 'is special in the fact that it's returned to Earth.' That's because astronauts were often instructed to jettison their cameras on the lunar surface in order to save precious kilograms during the return trip."

17 of 54 comments (clear)

  1. Not jettisoned by TheRealQuestor · · Score: 3, Funny

    They weren't jettisoned because of weight, they weren't allowed off the moon my the race of glass tower building aliens. This one was sneeked off

    1. Re:Not jettisoned by TheRealQuestor · · Score: 2

      damn forgot my /snark tag :(

  2. Our first act on the moon by hessian · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Let's litter.

    --
    Futurist Traditionalism
    1. Re:Our first act on the moon by Teancum · · Score: 2, Informative

      Considering that astronauts literally left their shit all over the place, litter like a slightly used camera is no big deal at all. Dumping radioactive waste on the Moon in the form of RTGs that are still pumping out energy even today should give extra brownie points. It should be pointed out that other countries have also dumped trash on the Moon, not to mention other worlds in the Solar System too.

    2. Re:Our first act on the moon by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 2

      I love the subtext of this comment - assuming without thinking that the same environmentalism that will save the Earth somehow has any application whatsoever on other planets - particularly those with zero habitability or possibility of ever becoming so. This is what political extremism does to your brain, people.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    3. Re:Our first act on the moon by FatdogHaiku · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Let's litter.

      Hey, someone has to think of the future space archaeologists!

      --
      You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
    4. Re:Our first act on the moon by VortexCortex · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Let's litter.

      Hey, someone has to think of the future space archaeologists!

      "It seems our hive minds were not intelligently designed, but began on a distant moon emerging from strange complex life forms as fecal bacteria from their anus."

  3. _Only_ camera? by Nanoda · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Sure. 'cept of course the one on Surveyor 3 that Apollo 12 brought back. The one that famously (but, I now see, apparently controversially) had viable bacteria in it after 2.5 years on the moon.

  4. Cameras left behind ... by PPH · · Score: 2

    ... with film?

    The selfies taken by the creatures from Apollo 18 should be entertaining. But nothing more unusual than what you'd find on /b/.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
    1. Re:Cameras left behind ... by Handover+Phist · · Score: 2

      Nothing is more unusual than what you'd find on /b/.

  5. Salvage Opportunity... by jcr · · Score: 2, Interesting

    So, if someone went to the moon and retrieved the entire Apollo 11 descent stage, I wonder what collectors would fork over for that, whole or in pieces?

    -jcr

    --
    The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
    1. Re:Salvage Opportunity... by jythie · · Score: 2

      On the other hand, one thing art thieves have discovered over the years is that offloading known works of art is actually very difficult and it is not unusual to dump them after years of failed attempts to find a buyer. There is a big market for fairly unknown art/fossil sales, but the really big ticket material is VERY challenging to offload.

    2. Re:Salvage Opportunity... by Half-pint+HAL · · Score: 2

      That's why proper art thieves always steal to order.

      --
      Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
  6. Re:The moon landing was a hoax! by VortexCortex · · Score: 4, Funny

    If we didn't go to the moon, then how do you explain all the cheese?

  7. Even more curious than the moon thing... by seven+of+five · · Score: 3, Funny

    Back then, they took pictures with plastic film coated with a thin layer of silver-based chemicals. No electronics at all. I kid you not.

  8. Re:NASA actually landed men on the moon? by RandomUsername99 · · Score: 2

    Well *I* saw a documentary that said that these cameras were really Federal Reserve Bank mini chemtrails planes dispatched by the Illuminati filled with MMR vaccines designed to give the moon babies of the Area 51 aliens space autism... ...they ARE very socially awkward...

    Most people that were interested in tempting someone back to their place to play with butt toys would just try and woo them with a couple of strong drinks and some sweet talk, instead of the creepy abduction/space roofies crap that they seem to be fond of... but I don't think autism necessarily makes someone more likely to go down that path. Maybe space autism does.

  9. Mystery? by Chelloveck · · Score: 2

    So... What's mysterious here? Legally controversial, maybe. And poorly documented, thus potentially fraudulent. But something billed as "The Mystery of the 'Only Camera To Come Back From The Moon'" ought to involve conspiracy or spies or something, not just an incomplete chain of custody.

    --
    Chelloveck
    I give up on debugging. From now on, SIGSEGV is a feature.