posted 10-28-2014 12:14 AM               

First Hasselblad camera flown in space up for auction

A more than 50-year-old space-flown camera with connections to two of the original Mercury 7 astronauts is hitting the auction block in Boston.

RR Auction of Massachusetts has scheduled Nov. 13 for its special live sale of the Hasselblad 500C camera, which includes components used aboard the fifth and sixth U.S. space flights in 1962 and 1963. As the first Hasselblad to be flown into space, the camera led to NASA adopting the Swedish brand's equipment for the lunar landings later that decade.

"This camera's body has been photo confirmed as having been carried into orbit on Wally Schirra's Mercury-Atlas 8 mission and attested to by Gordon Cooper as being used during Mercury-Atlas 9," the one-lot auction catalog reads. "Forensic examination of official NASA [photos] confirms this Hasselblad camera body as the one Schirra carried on MA-8."

Included with the body is a Zeiss lens that RR describes as having flown on both Schirra's and Cooper's flights, as well a film magazine that entered space with Cooper.

posted 10-28-2014 06:43 AM               

One day about 50 years ago, according to legend, astronaut Wally Schirra walked into a Houston camera store and changed how humanity viewed itself.

posted 10-28-2014 12:02 PM               

RR Auction's Nov. 13 live one-lot sale of the first Hasselblad flown in space is for the camera (body, lens and magazine) only. You can bid in person at RR's Boston gallery or by phone. The auction will be broadcast online but there will be no bidding via the web.

posted 10-30-2014 07:16 AM               

According to some contemporary NASA literature, Schirra's modifications reduced the weight of the camera from 52 ounces unloaded to 40 ounces loaded. It used 120 film and was equipped with a 80mm lens.

If I recall, Hasselblad camera bodies were damn expensive way back then and probably represented a significant fraction of Schirra's salary. Add to that he had to buy a film magazine (I believe they were sold separately from the camera body and ran about $250 each in 1970 dollars)and a lens and we are talking serious 1962 U.S. Dollars.

posted 11-14-2014 01:32 PM               

First Hasselblad camera in space sells for $275,000 (exclusive interview with buyer)

The first Hasselblad camera to be used in space has sold for $275,000 to a UK collector who says in some respects the rare artifact was a bargain.

The historic camera's new owner, who spoke exclusively with collectSPACE on the condition of anonymity, won the Hasselblad on Thursday (Nov. 13) during a special, one-lot live sale organized by RR Auction of Boston. The camera included parts flown into space in 1962 and 1963 with two of NASA's original Mercury 7 astronauts and was used to take the first professional-quality photographs of the Earth from orbit.

"It is a marvelous piece," said the winning bidder during a telephone interview on Friday. "It's something that is really tangible space history and it also gave a glimpse of space to the world and I am fascinated with that."