12 Rare NASA Collectibles for Fellow Space Nerds

Even though this NASA collectible did not fly up into space, there is a special symbolism to Snoopy in an astronaut costume. With a blessing from creator Charles Schulz, Snoopy was used as a spokesperson for the Manned Flight Awareness (MFA) Program to talk about flight safety and good quality control during spacecraft manufacturing. The Apollo 10 crew even named their Lunar Module Snoopy, and Command Pilot John Young named his spacecraft Charlie Brown.

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Our eleventh rare NASA collectible may look odd by itself, but it was essential to several aspects of flight and docking in space flight. The pyrotechnic charge holder assisted with the initial pressurization of spacecraft propellant systems, landing gear deployment, and stage separation. Over 200 of the devices were used on each Apollo lunar mission and were implemented after the docking problems of the Apollo 14 flight in 1971. Their projected auction value is between $20,000 and $30,000.

Ever since the Gemini 5 space mission, crews have gotten their own unique mission patches to identify their expedition into space. For the Apollo missions, twelve total patches represent each crew. Each design is different, with some showing the Greek god Apollo, others the American Eagle, and more with the nation’s colors of red, white, and blue. These patches can sell for over $1,000, depending on their rarity.

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Coming in with comedic undertones is our ninth rare NASA collectible, which is an image of astronauts Dale Gardner (left) and Joseph Allen (right) as they pose at the end of their ship. Both astronauts were retrieving two satellites that were secured in the Discovery’s payload bay, and as they stood there Gardner held up a “For Sale” sign. Each astronaut‘s signature completes the poster and is worth over $500.

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Also known as the brains of the spaceship, the general-purpose computer was built by IBM and held two main pieces: the Central Processing Unit (CPU) and the Input/Output Processor (IOP). These units were used between 1981 and 1991 and flew on twenty space shuttle missions, including the Challenger and the Atlantis. This technology was used until a 1991 upgrade combined the two into a single unit, making the two-piece GPC obsolete.

Not all spacesuits are the same, and this is true for the Gemini G1C spacesuit. The G1C was one of the first Gemini suits made by the David Clark company and was coated in the same aluminized silver as the Mercury suits from prior missions. The cover layer was created for astronaut Gus Grissom who piloted the second Project Mercury flight, as well as being the command pilot on Gemini 3.

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One of the most expensive rare NASA collectibles on our list is the Vostok 3KA-2 space capsule. The capsule was sent into space three weeks before Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space, and instead held Zvezdochka the dog and Ivan Ivanovich, a life-size dummy. After the capsule completed a single orbit of Earth in 1961, both the dog and the dummy were recovered safely. It was sold for $2.9 million at Sotheby’s auction.

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While space capsules and mission emblems are fun pieces of NASA memorabilia, there is something about owning Moon dust that immediately increases the rarity. In 2017, Neil Armstrong‘s lunar sample return bag was auctioned through Sotheby’s for $1.8 million, part of a large collection of space artifacts. The bag had “Lunar Sample Return” written on the front, with traces of moon rocks still inside the seams.

Navigational charts came in two different forms. One was a star chart that helped astronauts find their way to the Moon or space station, and the other was a chart of the Moon with its various craters and other identifying features. One of the navigational charts from Apollo 11 sold for $218,000 at auction, as it was used by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to find their way across the moon’s surface.

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Third on our rare NASA collectibles list is the attitude control joystick from the Apollo 15 mission, a valuable piece of technology to the crew. The joystick was a piece of the flight control equipment, activating four sets of Marquardt rocket engines to help steer the ship. The piece worked with both the astronaut and the computer’s calculations to provide the safest landing possible. The joystick spent over 66 hours on the Moon’s surface inside the Falcon and later sold for $327,870.

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There are very few rare NASA collectibles that are as unique as an astronaut’s journal. This journal was owned by Jim Lovell as he made calculations to ensure a safe return of the Apollo 13 crew after the mission was aborted. The calculations were checked by the NASA crew before the crew came back home. This journal sold for $388,375 from Lovell’s collection.

Spacesuits are the lifeblood of an astronaut, and some of these suits have fetched a pretty penny on the market. This particular spacesuit was worn by Russian cosmonaut Alexei Leonov during the Soyuz mission in 1975, and sold at auction for $242,000. Leonov was the first man to spacewalk when he stepped outside the Voshkod 2 for over twelve minutes back in 1965 on one of his earlier trips into space.

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